The University of Westminster has launched a new course called Architecture and Sustainable Heritage MA, to prepare a new generation of built-environment heritage professionals for the current challenges posed by global challenges.
The course is aimed at recent graduates who wish to pursue a career or further research in built heritage and mid-career professionals aiming to broaden their knowledge. With its focus on collaborative interdisciplinary approaches, active learning and the acquisition of new skills, the course offers students an opportunity to both gain and share insights in architectural and built-environment heritage.
With an emphasis on employability, live case studies and authentic assessment, the Architecture and Sustainable Heritage MA will prepare a new generation of built-environment heritage professionals for the current crises, such as climate change, as they will learn how to build sustainable communities and work towards heritage-led development and regeneration, facilitating interdisciplinary discussions to find solutions together.
The programme, led by Dr Maja Jović and Dr Kate Jordan, will foreground the adaptive reuse and retrofit of historic buildings, alongside issues of community engagement, re-contextualising heritage sites and heritage management. The curriculum is structured to allow students to choose a combination of optional modules to build skills and reach the course’s objectives in a way that suits their own learning style and career path.
Through being situated in Central London and with the School’s established links with Historic England, The Twentieth Century Society, SAVE Britain's Heritage and numerous conservation architects and local authorities, students will have a wide range of networking opportunities. In addition, the course’s global connections with the International Network for Urban Heritage Conservation in Higher Education Institutes, universities and heritage institutions overseas, will enrich their learning and generate opportunities for exchanges.
This course will contribute toward the Sustainable Cities and Communities (11) and Climate Action (13) development goals of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which were adopted by the University of Westminster to help make the University a more sustainable, responsible and inclusive place to live, work and study.
Dr Jović said: “Our MA responds to the growing prominence of the heritage sector, both internationally and in the UK - as well as our University’s policies - in building sustainable, healthy and inclusive communities. Facilitating interdisciplinary discussions and finding solutions to these global challenges and crises together by drawing on skills, experiences and knowledge from different fields is at the core of what we do.
“This project comes out of our combined passion for research and work in heritage, architecture and destination development, as well as seeing a need for change in the way taught courses are thought about, largely in disciplinary silos. It also came after a number of conversations with our colleagues whose internationally recognised work inspired us to see it as an asset to be celebrated, so we hope this course will offer a unique insight into their work to students, as well as build new networks and opportunities to work together across the University.”
Find out more about the new Architecture and Sustainable Heritage MA at the University of Westminster.
Read the University of Westminster’s latest Sustainable Development Goals Report.
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