TEHIC-Handbook_of_best_practices

5. Heritage interpretation and university education 83 Academic/University programmes or courses addressing Heritage Interpretation A s noted above, due to a number of internal and external factors, the existing number of heritage interpretation master’s (or bachelor’s) academic curricula and/or relat- ed courses is hard to describe. There are many, indeed, but quite often as an additional value of masters in Museology/Museum Studies and/or other kinds of heritage manage - ment or preservation. Broadly speaking, there is nothing wrong with that, since not all countries, as we argued before, can afford to have a full master exclusively in heritage interpretation, no matter how it might be desirable, considering the future perspectives within EU regions, particularly in those highly dependent on (heritage) tourism. Level 8 - Doctoral level or equivalent A s far as heritage interpretation is concerned, the highest level of formal educa- tion (Level 8 – Doctoral level or equivalent) is twofold. Our research did not track any PhD programme which is exclusively devoted to heritage interpretation. This is not surprising, since the demand for doctoral degrees is in a vast majority connected with academia or high-level research jobs, more precisely to positions at universities (both public and private), research institutes and the like. Heritage interpretation is not an exception. Many fields of study do not have specific university programmes devoted to those disciplines at the doctoral level. This, however, does not mean that it is impossible to deliver a dissertation where a significant part (sometimes the main part) of research is heritage interpretation. In fact, to some degree, and ironically, opportunities here could be even greater than at the master’s or bachelor’s level, which we shall discuss later on. Namely, for almost any scientific discipline for which a PhD programme exists at whatsoever university it is possible to imagine doctoral theses focused on heritage interpretation. The reason for this is simple: every scientific discipline has its own his - tory and, accordingly, so does heritage, and therefore if a PhD thesis is focused on the above, it might be considered as being relevant. Actually, this kind of situation will rarely take place, but it is not impossible. Moreover, it is not hard to envision doctoral thesis focused on heritage interpretation within the field of humanities, or in some segments of natural and technical sciences. Therefore, albeit there is not an official PhD programme, ‘the doors are not completely closed.’ This situation will broadly improve as heritage interpretation increasingly enlarg - es its own body of knowledge.