Closer collaboration between universities and museums is needed to make training more relevant for students who want to be curators and collections managers, according to a new survey of museum studies courses.
Stronger partnerships could also encourage more people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds to work in the sector, says Maurice Davies, the deputy director of the Museums Association (MA), who carried out the study.
'The research revealed that the content of many university-based courses was not as close to what museums want as it could be,' says Davies, who also reports concerns that the courses could become the museum sector equivalent of media studies qualifications - money-spinning programmes churning out too many people for too few jobs.
'About three-quarters of students go on to jobs in the sector, which is a reasonable success rate,' he says. 'But it's interesting that they can be short-contract or poorly-paid posts. After a few years, those people can become stuck in their careers or give up completely.'
But Davies says that the courses aren't entirely to blame: 'It's a complicated picture, with museums often providing weak career development and low pay. The key is to build stronger relationships between each course and groups of local museums. There are pockets of good practice and examples of how this can work in a fully-fledged way.'
The museums studies course at Newcastle, for example, has a formal agreement that sees Tyne and Wear museums staff take 100 teaching sessions throughout the one-year programme. Bournemouth has a similar undertaking with the county museum service, while students at the University of East Anglia undertake two days of unpaid work as museum staff each week.
'Museums, generally, have it easy in that they have large numbers of qualified people to choose from to fill their entry-level posts. The difficulties arise later when those bright people have the stuffing kicked out of them because they're not developing into the junior and middle managers they have the potential to be. It's another sign of the lack of investment and thinking when it comes to training and development.'
The survey, Davies adds, confirms the perception that almost everyone entering the sector was white and female, and more often than not with a humanities degree, which he says is 'bad news' for museums bemoaning the lack of applicants with a natural sciences or technology background.
Of the 191 full-time, UK-based students, 31 were male. Of the total of 400 full- and part-time students, 23 were from black or ethnic minority backgrounds. Of those, 16 received funding from the Diversify scheme - the positive-action traineeships begun by the MA - and just seven paid their own way.
'This shows that if the universities and the sector are serious about widening participation, they have to take positive action. I appreciate how difficult it can be in the context of maximising revenue from fees, but if universities are serious, they have to do something about it.'
Davies says he was shocked to find that only 29 UK-based students had their fees paid for by employers. 'It means people with notoriously low salaries are struggling to better themselves by paying for part-time courses in order to gain a qualification to progress their careers.
'Overall, I think museums studies is sold to students as a vocational course that will help them get jobs. The universities have a double motivation - to prepare people for work but also to teach a lot of underpinning theory about museums.
'I'm not sure if that balance is necessarily what the employers want. So museums need to start to take the driving seat; they shouldn't just sit and wait for qualified staff to arrive.'
But Vicky Woollard, the leader of the Museum and Gallery Management MA at City University in London, warns closer collaboration between museums and two or three training providers can lead to a relationship that is too cosy. 'What's always at the back of my mind is that you can become over-familiar with one or two organisations, whereas universities always need to be objective. Students need to see that there is more than one way of doing things.'
The growing popularity of continuing professional development in museums, with a greater emphasis on short courses, may open up more routes into the senior levels of the sector, she adds.
'We are reorganising our offer at City so that people can accrue courses over four years to qualify for an MA. With CPD courses, you're also more likely to pick the things that are pertinent to you in your job.'
The University of Leicester's museum studies department has been critical of Davies's research findings and his assertion that there is a mismatch between the content of museum studies courses and museums' needs as employers (Museums Journal July 2006, p14).
However, Richard Sandell, the deputy head of the department, says that the research is welcome as an exploration of ways to improve standards.
'Where I think the research is strong and interesting is in focusing on what best practice should be, whether that's training providers working in partnership with museums or
other things. They could be the basis for a new validation system which would encourage best practice, identify the strong providers and raise standards at the ones with more
work to do.'
Stronger partnerships could also encourage more people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds to work in the sector, says Maurice Davies, the deputy director of the Museums Association (MA), who carried out the study.
'The research revealed that the content of many university-based courses was not as close to what museums want as it could be,' says Davies, who also reports concerns that the courses could become the museum sector equivalent of media studies qualifications - money-spinning programmes churning out too many people for too few jobs.
'About three-quarters of students go on to jobs in the sector, which is a reasonable success rate,' he says. 'But it's interesting that they can be short-contract or poorly-paid posts. After a few years, those people can become stuck in their careers or give up completely.'
But Davies says that the courses aren't entirely to blame: 'It's a complicated picture, with museums often providing weak career development and low pay. The key is to build stronger relationships between each course and groups of local museums. There are pockets of good practice and examples of how this can work in a fully-fledged way.'
The museums studies course at Newcastle, for example, has a formal agreement that sees Tyne and Wear museums staff take 100 teaching sessions throughout the one-year programme. Bournemouth has a similar undertaking with the county museum service, while students at the University of East Anglia undertake two days of unpaid work as museum staff each week.
'Museums, generally, have it easy in that they have large numbers of qualified people to choose from to fill their entry-level posts. The difficulties arise later when those bright people have the stuffing kicked out of them because they're not developing into the junior and middle managers they have the potential to be. It's another sign of the lack of investment and thinking when it comes to training and development.'
The survey, Davies adds, confirms the perception that almost everyone entering the sector was white and female, and more often than not with a humanities degree, which he says is 'bad news' for museums bemoaning the lack of applicants with a natural sciences or technology background.
Of the 191 full-time, UK-based students, 31 were male. Of the total of 400 full- and part-time students, 23 were from black or ethnic minority backgrounds. Of those, 16 received funding from the Diversify scheme - the positive-action traineeships begun by the MA - and just seven paid their own way.
'This shows that if the universities and the sector are serious about widening participation, they have to take positive action. I appreciate how difficult it can be in the context of maximising revenue from fees, but if universities are serious, they have to do something about it.'
Davies says he was shocked to find that only 29 UK-based students had their fees paid for by employers. 'It means people with notoriously low salaries are struggling to better themselves by paying for part-time courses in order to gain a qualification to progress their careers.
'Overall, I think museums studies is sold to students as a vocational course that will help them get jobs. The universities have a double motivation - to prepare people for work but also to teach a lot of underpinning theory about museums.
'I'm not sure if that balance is necessarily what the employers want. So museums need to start to take the driving seat; they shouldn't just sit and wait for qualified staff to arrive.'
But Vicky Woollard, the leader of the Museum and Gallery Management MA at City University in London, warns closer collaboration between museums and two or three training providers can lead to a relationship that is too cosy. 'What's always at the back of my mind is that you can become over-familiar with one or two organisations, whereas universities always need to be objective. Students need to see that there is more than one way of doing things.'
The growing popularity of continuing professional development in museums, with a greater emphasis on short courses, may open up more routes into the senior levels of the sector, she adds.
'We are reorganising our offer at City so that people can accrue courses over four years to qualify for an MA. With CPD courses, you're also more likely to pick the things that are pertinent to you in your job.'
The University of Leicester's museum studies department has been critical of Davies's research findings and his assertion that there is a mismatch between the content of museum studies courses and museums' needs as employers (Museums Journal July 2006, p14).
However, Richard Sandell, the deputy head of the department, says that the research is welcome as an exploration of ways to improve standards.
'Where I think the research is strong and interesting is in focusing on what best practice should be, whether that's training providers working in partnership with museums or
other things. They could be the basis for a new validation system which would encourage best practice, identify the strong providers and raise standards at the ones with more
work to do.'