Heritage (Taught)

Discover how the past shapes the future with the MA in Heritage at Canterbury Christ Church University.

Based in the centre of a World Heritage Site in Canterbury, Kent, this course offers an exceptional foundation for postgraduate students looking to build or advance a career in the heritage sector.

You’ll develop a critical understanding of how heritage is interpreted, managed, and represented, whilst gaining the digital and practical skills that are increasingly vital for today’s professionals.

This innovative MA explores how the study and management of heritage connect to wider social issues such as inequality, colonialism, and identity. You’ll examine how heritage can be a tool for both reflection and transformation, helping communities to understand the past and shape more inclusive futures.

What you'll learn
Explore how people engage with the tangible and intangible remains of the past, and how these shape our values and identities in the present.
Apply theoretical, ethical, and legislative frameworks to critically analyse and manage heritage in professional contexts.
Examine the complex social, political, and economic challenges influencing the heritage sector today.
Develop advanced digital, practical, and research skills to support your professional growth and future career in heritage.
Lead original research or create innovative heritage interpretation projects that contribute meaningful insights to the field.
Taught by experts actively engaged in heritage research and practice, you’ll benefit from close academic support and professional guidance.

The course will equip you with the analytical, ethical, and technical skills needed to work across museums, heritage organisations, archives, and cultural institutions, or to progress into doctoral study and academic research.

The interdisciplinary and vocational nature of the discipline has allowed us to make use of a variety of assessment types including exhibitions, artefacts (digital and material) and other media.

In addition to preparing essays you might be assessed through annotated bibliographies, mock reports, consultancy papers, presentations, podcasts or other digital outputs, and independent research projects. You also have the opportunity to choose if you are assessed by an extended written dissertation project or a more practical project output (worth 60-credits). This course does not set exams.