Program Overview

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On our four-year BA Curating, Heritage and Human Rights (including foundation year), we work with you to help to develop your subject-specific knowledge and to improve your academic skills. You receive a thorough grounding in these areas during your foundation year (known as Year Zero) to prepare you for a further three years of undergraduate study at Essex. Our five-year version of this course enables you to study abroad during your fourth year of study. After successful completion of Year Zero in our Essex Pathways Department, you progress to complete your course with our School of Philosophy and Art History . BA Curating, Heritage and Human Rights will deepen your knowledge of curatorial practice, whilst studying human rights, developing your confidence to advocate for individual and community rights, social justice and social change. In addition, the degree will introduce you to the critical study of heritage, including ethical and legal debates, and questions around how heritage is preserved, communicated and displayed, including issues of spectatorship and community engagement. You will study topics including:

• History of the museum
• Curatorial ethics
• Heritage management
• Social dimensions of human rights
• Digital heritage and museums
• The role of new technologies and new media in heritage and museums

To study on our course, you don’t need an A-Level in Art or Art History. In fact, we believe that the best students of visual culture are those who bring fresh eyes and new perspectives to their objects of enquiry. One of the major reasons for choosing Essex is the quality of the education you will receive. We are 3rd in the UK for research outputs in art history (Grade Point Average, REF2021). You will be taught by our expert staff in your very first year, a rarity in the UK Art History courses. Why we're great.

• Our Human Rights Centre is a recognised leader, working with human rights organisations and corporations around the world
• We house a collection of over 750 pieces of art from Latin America, in ESCALA, and over 100 works of British art, so you can study art ‘in the flesh’ on campus
• Our structured programme of study trips at home and abroad takes you far afield and explores local settings

Study abroad

Your education extends beyond the university campus. We support you in expanding your education through offering the opportunity to spend a year or a term studying abroad at one of our partner universities. The five-year version of our degree allows you to spend the fourth year abroad, while otherwise remaining identical to the four-year course. Studying abroad allows you to experience other cultures and languages, to broaden your degree socially and academically, and to demonstrate to employers that you are mature, adaptable, and organised. If you spend a full year abroad you’ll only pay 15% of your usual tuition fee to Essex for that year. You won’t pay any tuition fees to your host university.

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Placement year

When you arrive at Essex, you can decide whether you would like to combine your course with a placement year. You will be responsible for finding your placement, but with support and guidance provided by both your department and the placements team. If you complete a year you’ll only pay 20% of your usual tuition fee to Essex for that year.

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Our expert staff

We are a dynamic group of art historians who investigate the production and reception of images and built environment, across cultures and media, from the late medieval period to the present day. Our staff’s research interests include activist art, modernist art and totalitarianism, the relationship between art and science, the artistic status of body modification, art and the environment, critical heritage, and the visual culture of social problems. We also have significant experience in curation and public engagement. Recent projects include:

Paola Di Giuseppantonio Di Franco’s UKRI Future Leaders-funded research project, REPLACE

Matt Lodder’s Painted People: Humanity in 21 Tattoos (HarperCollins, 2022)

Diana Bullen Presciutti’s Saints, Miracles, and Social Problems in Italian Renaissance Art (Cambridge, 2023)

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Specialist facilities

At Essex, you have the best of both worlds: on the one hand, you are part of a tight-knit, campus community with close ties to several small but excellent museums in the nearby town of Colchester; on the other hand, you can travel from campus to London in an hour, which puts the world’s best museums and galleries at your fingertips. By studying within our Essex Pathways Department for your foundation year, you will have access to all of the facilities that the University of Essex has to offer, as well as those provided by our department to support you:

• We provide computer labs for internet research; classrooms with access to PowerPoint facilities for student presentations; AV facilities for teaching and access to web-based learning materials.
• Our Student Services Hub will support you and provide information for all your needs as a student
• Our social space is stocked with hot magazines and newspapers, and provides an informal setting to meet with your lecturers, tutors and friends.

Our facilities enable you to gain curatorial experience, engage in object-based learning, and learn digital skills, a cornerstone of our approach to heritage and museums. We have close links with many of cultural sites and institutions in Colchester, including the iconic Firstsite gallery, which support hands-on activities and your practical learning. Our Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA) is the most comprehensive Latin American art research resource in the UK and has a state-of-the-art teaching and research space. Many of our students gain work and research experience through our collection. Our onsite gallery Art Exchange runs an ongoing programme of contemporary art exhibitions and talks by curators and artists, as well as exhibitions organised by our postgraduate curatorial students. Colchester’s iconic Firstsite gallery features an exciting programme of contemporary art exhibitions, film screenings and talks, and exhibitions organised by our curatorial students. Our Centre for Curatorial Studies is home to staff who specialise in the history of exhibition design and curate high profile exhibitions.

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Your future

The visual arts and culture industries have become an increasingly significant part of the national and international economy, and our graduates can leave Essex with the skills to take advantage of this growing opportunity. The sectors with jobs best suited for students with a BA in Curating, Heritage and Human Rights include museums, galleries, heritage institutions, and auction houses. Within these sectors, you can pursue a career in curation, cultural policy, heritage, museum education, programming, events and marketing. Our degree also equips you with foundational skills to run your own gallery, to work as a PR agent, or to work in the wider arts and cultural industries, in design, fashion, publishing or events management. To help our students acquire the particular skills they need to gain employment in the heritage and museum sector, we offer numerous modules dedicated to the histories, theories and practices of heritage and museums. We also work with the university’s Student Development Team to help you find out about further work experience, internships, placements and voluntary opportunities.