Curious about studying Curating and Collections Management PG Certat Birkbeck, University of London? We've gathered all the key details—entry requirements, modules, fees, and more. Hear from real students by checking out reviews, or take the next step by booking an open day to explore it for yourself.
Postgraduate Certificate
Bloomsbury Campus
Full Time
Mar 2027
1 Year
The Postgraduate Certificate in Curating and Collections Management offers you a unique opportunity to gain practical skills in museum work and to better understand the issues facing curators and collections managers today. It will help you answer important questions such as: How do you pitch a proposal for an exhibition? How would you project-manage this and who would need to be involved? How would you organise a loan for an exhibition? What are the different ways of cataloguing a museum object and why does the information you keep matter? How would you store a sacred object, or something that was extremely fragile? You will spend two intensive weeks studying the foundational principles of curating and collections management, debating the challenges and opportunities of contemporary museums and gallery practice, and visiting London museums and galleries. You will listen to experts talking about their working practices, learn skills of documentation and work in groups to develop an exhibition. This Postgraduate Certificate is suitable if you have a first degree and are interested in a vocational qualification, or as a refresher course if you are already working in a museum and gallery. It has a daytime timetable with classes taking place during the day.
Collections management lies at the heart of museum practice today. On this short intensive course you will be introduced to its core principles, including acquisition, registration, cataloguing, basic object care, storage and access. The course will be delivered over a five-day period: classroom learning will take place each morning, followed in the afternoon by visits to a range of museum and gallery collections across London. You will have the opportunity to meet a range of professional registrars and collections managers, and to critically reflect upon some of the key challenges facing the profession today.
The role of the museum or gallery curator has long expanded beyond its traditional focus on the care of objects (the root of the word, ?curare?, meaning to ?take care of?). Today the curator is tasked with a variety of key roles, including the acquisition, interpretation and display of objects. Curators use objects to tell stories; they create exhibitions and communicate with (and shape) audiences.
4.0
