TEHIC-Handbook_of_best_practices

5. Heritage interpretation and university education TEHIC Towards a European Heritage Interpretation Curriculum 84 Interconnectivity of Degrees (doctoral level) vs. heritage interpretation related work: A s noted, doctoral degrees, as a demand, are connected with universities and re- search institutes. As long as there is no high demand of any specific position at such institutions (e.g., MA or MSc professors in Heritage Interpretation or researchers at any kind of institution specialised in heritage interpretation) this situation will hardly change. Level 7 – Master’s level or equivalent A s for the master’s level (be it Master of Arts or Master of Sciences) the research has shown certain similarities with the previous level. More precisely, if we take a look at the European offer, we must conclude that there are only a few master programmes which are close to being exclusively on heritage interpretation. At first, this might seem disappointing, but we are convinced that it reflects all challenges we mentioned earlier. Including, probably what is the most relevant here, the necessary time, as the academia, and everything related to it, is a slow changing system. New ideas, transferred to new university programmes need many verifications before they are accepted: things are easier to push once they become a usual norm. As we are checking particular masters in heritage interpretation across Europe, the United Kingdom’s offer is standing alone. More precisely, the University of the Highlands and Islands (Inverness, Scotland) and its MSc 11 programme entitled “Interpretation: Management and Practice” is, apparently, the only master (delivered on-line only) mainly focused on heritage interpretation. And, sadly, that is all, since any other master which we were able to find is grounded in other disciplines of study, such as heritage or museology, among others. 12 Outside the UK, the situation is quite the same. There are many and diverse 13 univer- sity curricula related to master’s programmes (in Belarus, Croatia, Check Republic, 11 Master of Science. 12 Such as, for example, the University of Leicester (UK), where a MA & MSc in Heritage and Interpretation is offered, albeit within Museum Studies, or the University of Birmingham (UK) where a MA in International Heritage Management includes one module on heritage interpretation by the Ironbridge International Insti - tute for Cultural Heritage. The list of available modules and similar relations to divers on courses vs. Masters where heritage interpretation is included could go on (in the UK, for example) the University of Exeter with its MA International Heritage Management and Consultancy with one module in “Interpretation, Narrative, Memory and Conflict”, or the University College London and its MA Cultural Heritage Studies, (delivering one module: Museum and Site Interpretation), or the University of York (UK) with its MA in Cultural Heritage Management (with a core module on Museums, Audiences and Interpretation). 13 From heritage/museums studies all the way to other disciplines.