Show your support to save the Master of Museum Studies and Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies programs at The University of Queensland!

On 10 May 2024, The University of Queensland wrote to students, industry representatives and alumni advising that it is proposing to phase out the Master of Museum Studies and Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from 2025. This is exactly 20 years after the course was established.

If this proposal succeeds there will be no tertiary qualifications offered in this specialised field in Queensland. 

Queensland is home to a vibrant network of around 400 public museums and galleries, who operate with around 1,600 paid staff and over 15,000 volunteers.  Museums and galleries are also integral parts of Australia’s arts and cultural ecosystem which is a $111.7bn industry that contributes 6.5% of GDP.

The University of Queensland’s Master of Museum Studies and Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies programs are incredibly important in training the next generation of gallery, museum, archives and library (GLAM) professionals and filling skills shortages in our sector. Should the University’s proposal succeed, it will have a profound impact on Queensland’s arts and cultural heritage ecology, and future workforce.

Consequences

• Impacts on Queensland’s sector capacity and workforce, particularly in the lead up to the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games and accompanying Cultural Olympiad (2028-2032).
• Contributes to skills shortage of qualified First Nations industry professionals.
• Impacts on The University of Queensland’s reputation, credibility and industry relationships.
• Impacts on Queensland’s reputation as a leader in arts and culture.
• Counterintuitive to the State Government’s Creative Together 2020-2030: a 10-Year Road Map for arts, culture and creativity in Queensland and National Cultural Policy — Revive: a place for every story, a story for every place.
• Impacts on current cohort of undergraduate and postgraduate students.
• Loss of impactful learning and vital networking opportunities for the next generation of Queensland-grown GLAM sector workers. Students will be forced to relocate interstate or overseas to pursue an education in museums studies and may not return.

Take action:

The University of Queensland’s proposal to phase out the Master of Museum Studies and Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from 2025 has been made without sector consultation.

We encourage you to sign this petition and add your comments to send a clear message to The University of Queensland that ‘teaching out’ the Master of Museum Studies and Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies program would be a great loss for the University, its staff, students and alumni, the sector and the wider community, particularly when the need and support still exists.

Once these programs are gone, a comparable tertiary qualification will be difficult to establish, forcing students to relocate interstate and impacting our Gallery, Library, Archives and Museum (GLAM) sector workforce and future leaders.

Please show your support by signing our petition, sharing it with colleagues, and writing directly to the Vice Chancellor, Professor Deborah Terry AC at vc@uq.edu.au and Professor Heather Zwicker, Executive Dean, Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at execdean@hass.uq.edu.au to express your concerns.

Image: Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0> via Wikimedia Commons