Course 2017-2018 a.y.

Classes: 31 (I sem.)

Instructors:
Class 31: JANE THOMPSON

The course aims to help shape students into future mediators for management innovation in the cultural heritage sector, a field that has been somewhat isolated and self-referential for too long and is in great need of stronger inter-sectorial not just interdisciplinary approaches.
The course, therefore, seeks to bring together the students' diverse backgrounds, often with strengths in economics and business, with a better understanding of the cultural heritage sector in order to make them prime candidates for interdisciplinary cultural leadership roles.

The emphasis of the course is on

• Cultural heritage places (rather than collections and the museum sector which are addressed in other courses, although with obvious links).
• Understanding, defining, assessing management systems for cultural heritage in order to promote improvement within them.

• Achieving a more dynamic role for cultural heritage in broader sustainable development to harness benefits both for heritage and for broader wellbeing in society.

The sheer diversity of heritage typologies, together with contrasting management environments, and diverse and often entrenched values by a range of stakeholders (given strong territorial links of immoveable cultural heritage) make for a lot of complexity.
There is a specific focus in the course on the struggle within the cultural heritage sector to find effective ways to measure success, both in terms of achieving desired outcomes but also in terms of improving the performance of heritage management models.
The course draws on real life case studies from around the world, together with progress made in the development of new approaches and methodologies - often in the context of ICCROM policy work for World Heritage. These are come together to allow the students to explore some common theoretical frameworks, identify what is happening at real heritage sites, promote a common language and identify their own capacity to improve practice in the field.
The case studies adopted by the students as course work help explore management issues raised by multiple ownership, complex governance, conflicting values and the relationship of immoveable cultural heritage to surrounding communities and society as a whole.
Guest lecturers are a fundamental element of the course, presenting the challenges faced by professionals in the field. External visits to heritage places, including contact with the organizations and communities involved in their management, allow a first-hand understanding of how they work behind the scenes.
The coursework components are the real core of the course - the delivery of a project on specific topics introduced during the first weeks of the course and advanced through individual and group work and class workshops. The approach roots the study environment in peer-learning and ensures that students fully interact with course content and can apply it to real world scenarios. The course work is structured to reinforce the ability of students with diverse backgrounds to understand the broad issues and peculiarities of managing immoveable cultural heritage worldwide, while the exam questions further reinforce these themes focusing in more detail on specific management issues and capacity-building approaches. Active class participation is vital and this course is less rewarding and effective for non-attending students.

For attending students
The status of attending student is recognized in the first two calendar exams.
The students who attend the course get a final grade which brings together the following results

• Independent individual research (40% of overall course evaluation). A case study and themes is chosen in agreement with the Course Director; summary findings are then shared in the form of a short presentation to the class.
• Comparative case study analysis (10% of overall course evaluation). Students are divided into small groups to advance the tasks and then present and discuss their findings with their peers: the emphasis on contrasts between case studies  constitutes vital steps to understanding the diverse management implications of each heritage typology and management environment.
• A final written exam (50% of overall course evaluation) on subjects covered in the
• Course presentations, including those offered during external visits (see above).
• Key texts and other suggested reading identified in the Course Readings (see above).
• Outcomes of the coursework of the entire class.
• Any other essential reading indicated during the course.

For non-attending students
A written exam (100% of overall course evaluation) on subjects covered in the

• Course presentations (see above).
• Key texts and other suggested reading identified in the Course Readings (see above).
• Any other essential reading indicated during the course.

Key texts and other suggested bibliography for attending and not attending students are provided in a Course Readings summary integrated into the Syllabus document at the beginning of the course.
A greater number of key texts is identified for non-attending students.
Similarly, course presentations offered during classroom sessions and external visits, together with other essential reading indicated during the course, are uploaded weekly on to the course learning area on the Bocconi portal and are significant for attending and non-attending students alike.