Master of Science in Conservation
Summary
The Master’s Programme in Conservation sharpens your ability to identify and process complex issues in the heritage conservation and management field and offers many options for specialisation. Studies at the programme involve exploring how historical aspects can be seen as resources in sustainable development and developing new skills in documenting, assessing, and interpreting cultural heritage.
About
This master’s programme is designed to deepen your knowledge about the characteristics and multiple layers of meaning of cultural heritage and the condition of its influence in societies. It helps you develop new skills in the documentation, assessment, interpretation, and conservation of cultural heritage.
At the programme, you will engage in ongoing heritage projects and investigate current methods of conservation, covering issues of maintenance and reuse, contemporary developments, and different aspects of participatory heritage planning. The programme highlights how historical aspects can be seen as resources in sustainable societal development. Combining academic studies with research assignments, you get to link theory with practice, and build your capacity for both professional and research careers. In a broader scope, it provides you with new knowledge to address heritage conservation in relation to challenges of climate change, social movements, and socially equal futures. Learning about craft methods in building preservation, parks and buildings, as well as management methods for historic gardens are also included in the programme.
A firm grounding in research and collaboration
The past four decades of experiences and connections have provided the Department of Conservation with an important history and position in Sweden. Participating in our master’s programme helps you find new connections, inspiration, and internships. The courses are taught by lecturers and guest scholars with national and international experience.
The Department of Conservation collaborates closely with private heritage conservation actors and public agencies, including the Swedish National Heritage Board and a range of museums. We also enjoy an array of international connections, especially through the Centre for Critical Heritage Studies, as well as the different Erasmus agreements that network with us throughout and beyond Europe.
Many options for specialisation
The programme offers mandatory and elective courses on contemporary themes in the field of conservation. The elective courses include individual courses that allow you to design your own individual courses to create a unique academic profile. An individual study plan, that includes a time plan, your selection of courses and your choice of specialisation, is established at the start of the programme.
If you are a conservator looking to specialise we recommend you apply to the Master’s Programme in Conservation of Cultural Heritage Objects.
Programme structure and content
Courses within the programme include lectures, seminars, workshops, study visits, and site-specific investigations.
The first semester offers an in-depth study of the field of conservation focusing on the theoretical starting points, the historical conditions, and the role of conservation in society as well as on the research methods within the field. During the second semester and the second year, you will focus on a specific area of interest. You can combine elective courses for individual specialisation with writing a master’s thesis (30 credits), or choose to write a master’s thesis (60 credits) during the second year.
Who should apply?
Apply to the Master’s Programme in Conservation if you want to work in the heritage conservation and management field and if you are interested in how cultural heritage conservation relates to contemporary, societal challenges. The programme sharpens your critical thinking and offers new theoretical insights and cutting edge methodologies.
Prerequisites and selection
Requirements
A Bachelor's degree, a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, a professional qualification of at least 180 credits, or equivalent training obtained abroad. The applicant's previous studies fulfilling this requirement must concern areas of knowledge dealing with the content, organisation or construction of cultural heritage, or different practical perspectives of cultural heritage in a societal context, or the conditions for how cultural heritage can be interpreted and constructed. Applicants must prove their knowledge of English: English 6/English B from Swedish Upper Secondary School or the equivalent level of an internationally recognized test, for example TOEFL, IELTS.
Selection
Selection is based upon the number of credits in Conservation.
After graduation
Graduates receive the degree Master of Science (120 credits) with a major in Conservation and studies at the programme make you eligible for future academic studies.
As a heritage professional, you usually work as a conservator-restorer with a focus on the built environment and cultural landscapes. The work involves conveying the cultural-historical content in urban and land-use planning and decision-making, as well as managerial procedures including decision-making on how different stakeholder interests should be balanced in matters of preservation versus exploitation. You can also work with leading project plans and coordinating measures that affect the cultural environment. Our former students work in public agencies at municipalities, museums, and county boards, or in the private sector at architectural and consulting companies. Several of our former students are self-employed.
Facilities
Our teaching is mainly held in the building Natrium in the centre of Gothenburg.
More information about facilities
Exchange opportunities
It is possible to apply for exchange studies at one of our partner universities during the second and third semesters of the programme. When studying at a partner university that the University of Gothenburg has an agreement with, you do not pay any tuition fees and have the opportunity to apply for scholarships for the exchange period.
