Master’s Degree Programme in Cultural Management: Master’s Degree Programme in Cultural Management

Descriptions

The Master's Degree programme in Cultural Management offers to those working in the production of creative industries a chance to develop and deepen their expertise in changing environments of cultural management. After completing this degree, the student will be able to use agile future oriented development skills in the cultural industries and depending on professional orientation in other industries. This demands for ability to forecast future societal and international trends affecting the cultural industries and plan, facilitate and lead agile research based developmental activities.

The Master´s Degree programme in Cultural Management is intended for those who have a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, and who have accumulated two years of relevant work experience. The degree title is Master of Culture and Arts.

The implementation of the studies is mainly planned for a duration of 1,5 years (18 months). The degree can also be completed within a shorter period of time, with a minimum duration of one year (12 months). The multifaceted teaching implementations of this degree include 2-3 days of contact teaching per month.

The expertise produced with a master’s degree from a university of applied sciences emphasizes a multidisciplinary and applicable approach, which enables the graduate to work in various kinds of jobs in the cultural field. The degree highlights the ability to lead collaborative and multidisciplinary future oriented development processes. The changes in the job sector have been taken into account in the teaching by connecting the course content to the students’ work communities and the development research they require.

The teaching methods are multifaceted, including contact teaching, online teaching and different information search, analysis and developmental projects. The studies are conducted in project form through different development and learning assignments that are connected to the developmental challenges of the job sector. The studies emphasize networking, teamwork skills and learning methods that strengthen internationalization.

Development

The expertise in this curriculum emphasizes planning, implementing and reporting agile co-development processes in working and other communities and skills needed to facilitate, lead and implementing these processes at working environments. A cross-cutting theme in the curriculum is leading futures oriented research based agile development process.

The curriculum was built based on the general competency requirements for a master’s degree from a university of applied sciences in addition to the field-specific competency requirements of cultural management. The competency descriptions are based on the Finnish law and decree on universities of applied sciences, the institution’s common goals (2013-16) and the European Qualifications Framework (EQF). (http://www.accreditedqualifications.org.uk/european-qualifications-framework-eqf.htm l). A master’s degree from a university of applied sciences is placed on level seven on the EQF description (Master level). According to this description the central learning outcomes with regard to knowledge, skills and competencies are the following:

Knowledge: Highly specialized knowledge that enables original thinking, partially equivalent to the leading expertise in the area of work or study. Critical awareness of the questions about cross-border information relating to this field and other fields.

Skills: Specialized problem-solving skills, which are needed in research and/or innovation activities to develop new knowledge and procedures in addition to combining different fields.

Competencies: The ability to lead and reform activities in work or study situations that are complex, difficult to predict and that require a new strategic approach. The ability to take responsibility for the development and/or the strategic evaluation of the professional competence and practices of groups.

According to the EQF the new curriculum emphasizes the studying and mastering of processes related to leading and developing work environments that are constantly changing, in addition to strengthening the student’s own competence as a specialist. The operating models of strategic leadership especially related to the leading of functions and processes are emphasized. The abilities to take into account and respond to the changes undergoing in the operational environment and to predict the effects of the ongoing changes in the future are also accentuated.

The field-specific curriculum reforms are based on the creative industries developmental policies formed in the 2000s on both the national and the metropolitan area level. In the strategy of Ministry of Education and Culture for 2030 (2019) research, innovation and development are underlined in the creative sector as well as the importance of economic growth, development of working life and boosting vibrant communities. These aims are foundation for the curriculum that combines agile working life co-development project skills with special dilemmas of the cultural sector. The master students have already worked in the field before starting their studies. For them the studies serve as a step on their life-long learning path. This is taken into consideration when tailoring each student their multifaceg educational process. In addition skills presented in several key strategies namely skills in futures researh, communal working, technology proximity and solution-oriented approach (for example The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and Parliament of Finland The Committee for the Future).

The European Union working towards recognising competences at the cultural sector has been followed (https://culture.ec.europa.eu/policies/eu-competences-in-the-field-of-culture) and specially the document on "Culture and democracy, the evidence How citizens’ participation in cultural activities enhances civic engagement, democracy and social cohesion : lessons from international researchs" (Hammonds, 2023, Europea Comission) has been used to set some targets of the agile project development. The curricula pays attention to these providing skills for agile co-development process facilitation and also transferring them in to practical management and supervision skills.

Pedagogical strategies of Metropolia UAS and placing education as part of multidisciplinary innovation hubs have channeled the curriculum design. The study program is implemented in close contact with the working practitioners in the creative sector via master thesis and course assignments. Furthermore, the feedback received about the implementations of teaching has been taken into account in the curriculum. This feedback has been collected systematically since the launch of the programme (2009).

Further information

Kopioitu opetussuunnitelma K0624S6, ei muutoksia. Päivitetty kompetenssit. OPS on käsitelty Kulttuurituotannon työelämän neuvottelukunnassa 16.11.2022 eikä muutostarpeita ilmennyt.

Kopioitu K0623S6 opetussuunnitelmassa, ei muutoksia
Vastuuhenkilö: Katri Halonen, Ylläpitäjä Anne Ojala-Soini

Kopioitu K0624S6 opetussuunnitelmassa, ei muutoksia
Vastuuhenkilö: Katri Halonen, Ylläpitäjä Anne Ojala-Soini

Objective

The goal of the Master's Degree programme in Cultural Management is to offer those working in the production of creative industries a chance to develop and deepen their expertise in changing environments of cultural management. After completing this degree, the student will be able to use agile future oriented development skills in the cultural industries and depending on professional orientation in other industries. This demands for ability to forecast future societal and international trends affecting the cultural industries and plan, facilitate and lead agile research based developmental activities.

Key learning outcomes
- Student can profile own professional identity and place the studies to ones lifelong learning process. In addition to developing his/her critical thinking, he/she is also able to support group development processes as a facilitator and forerunner of collaborative work, as well as learn how to apply agile development methods and assess their impact.
- The student learns to segment the needs of different client groups and users for art and culture services, and to use different models for producing, developing and analyzing processes. The student is able to report the results of his / her work in a critical way.
- The student is able to analyze the development of his / her work and environment from an international perspective. (S)he is able to develop creative processes and take responsibility for collaborative processes according to the principles of professional ethics in the field of cultural production and ethical values ??of society.
- Student has tools to strategic leaderhip of creative industries taking advantage of collaborative development skills. (S)he is able to identify both individual and community perspectives when making responsible decisions.