Undergraduate Course
BA (Hons) Curating with History
Overview
The details
Curating with History
V309
October 2026
Full-time
What is the BA Curating with History?
The BA Curating with History is a three-year degree, extendable to four with an optional placement or study abroad year.
You’ll explore how museums, galleries and heritage organisations collect, interpret and share stories about the past. Combining history, curatorial practice, heritage studies and public history, you’ll develop the knowledge and practical skills needed to create meaningful exhibitions and engage audiences with historical ideas.
Why this course
The BA Curating with History explores how objects, artworks and historical sources help us understand different societies, cultures and experiences. You’ll examine how museums and exhibitions shape our understanding of the past, exploring questions around interpretation, representation, memory and public engagement.
You’ll study the histories and theories behind museums, heritage and exhibitions while developing the skills needed to research, interpret and present historical material for different audiences. You’ll explore how curatorial decisions influence the stories museums tell and the ways visitors experience collections.
Learn from expert historians, art historians and curatorial specialists whose research explores areas including public history, heritage, visual culture and the relationship between objects and society. Their research and professional experience brings contemporary debates and real-world examples into your learning. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}
You’ll gain practical experience alongside your academic studies, developing skills in researching objects, creating interpretations and understanding how exhibitions are designed and delivered. Through hands-on projects and object-based learning, you’ll develop an understanding of professional curatorial practice.
You’ll have opportunities to engage with collections, galleries and museums, including resources such as the Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA) and Art Exchange, developing your confidence in working with cultural material. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}
Add a placement year or study abroad to broaden your experience, develop professional confidence and gain new cultural perspectives.
By the end of your degree, you’ll graduate with strong research, communication, analytical and project management skills, preparing you for careers across museums, galleries, heritage organisations and the wider cultural sector.
Who should apply
- Students interested in history, museums, exhibitions and the ways we understand the past
- Curious thinkers who want to explore how historical stories are researched, interpreted and shared
- Learners interested in careers in museums, heritage, galleries and cultural organisations
- Students who enjoy combining academic research with practical and creative projects
What you'll learn
- Curating and exhibitions: Understand how museums and galleries select, interpret and display objects for different audiences
- History and public history: Explore how the past is researched, represented and communicated beyond the university
- Museums and heritage: Examine the development, purpose and future of museums and cultural institutions
- Objects and visual culture: Learn how artworks, artefacts and historical sources reveal stories about people and societies
- Research and communication: Develop skills in historical research, writing, interpretation and presenting ideas clearly
Your learning experience
- Hands-on curatorial practice: Develop practical skills through exhibition projects, object-based learning and research activities
- Expert teaching: Learn from historians, art historians and researchers specialising in museums, heritage and visual culture
- Study real collections: Engage with artworks and objects through resources including the Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA)
- Gallery and museum experiences: Explore exhibitions, talks and creative projects through spaces such as Art Exchange and nearby cultural institutions
- Optional study abroad year: Spend a year at one of our partner universities and experience another culture with the Study Abroad programme
- Optional placement year: Gain professional experience in an organisation with university support from Placements at Essex
- Specialist facilities: Access specialist collections, research spaces and curatorial resources including ESCALA, Art Exchange and links to museums and galleries in Colchester and London
Careers and outcomes
A BA Curating with History degree can prepare you for careers in sectors and roles such as:
- Museums and galleries: Curator, exhibitions officer, collections assistant, museum learning officer and gallery coordinator
- Heritage and public history: Heritage officer, archive assistant, historical researcher and cultural project roles
- Arts and culture: Arts management, programming, events, publishing and cultural consultancy
- Communications and engagement: Public engagement, marketing, audience development and content roles
- Research and education: Historical research, teaching and postgraduate study
- Further study: Postgraduate study in curating, museum studies, history, heritage or related disciplines
Employers of graduates from this course
Graduates from this course develop skills valued across cultural, creative and public-facing organisations, including:
- Museums and galleries
- Heritage organisations
- Archives and historical collections
- Cultural institutions
- Charities and community organisations
- Creative industries and media organisations
Why we're great.
- We house a collection of over 750 pieces of art from Latin America, ESCALA, and over 100 works of British art, so you can study art ‘in the flesh' on campus
- You will study the social and political implications of art and go beyond its historic institutions
- Our structured programme of study trips at home and abroad takes you far afield and explores local settings
Course content
Components and modules explained
Components
Components are the blocks of study that make up your course. A component may have a set module which you must study, or a number of modules from which you can choose.
Each component has a status and carries a certain number of credits towards your qualification.
| Status | What this means |
| Core |
You must take the set module for this component and you must pass. No failure can be permitted. |
| Core with Options |
You can choose which module to study from the available options for this component but you must pass. No failure can be permitted. |
| Compulsory |
You must take the set module for this component. There may be limited opportunities to continue on the course/be eligible for the qualification if you fail. |
| Compulsory with Options |
You can choose which module to study from the available options for this component. There may be limited opportunities to continue on the course/be eligible for the qualification if you fail. |
| Optional |
You can choose which module to study from the available options for this component. There may be limited opportunities to continue on the course/be eligible for the qualification if you fail. |
The modules that are available for you to choose for each component will depend on several factors, including which modules you have chosen for other components, which modules you have completed in previous years of your course, and which term the module is taught in.
Modules
Modules are the individual units of study for your course. Each module has its own set of learning outcomes and assessment criteria and also carries a certain number of credits.
In most cases you will study one module per component, but in some cases you may need to study more than one module. For example, a 30-credit component may comprise of either one 30-credit module, or two 15-credit modules, depending on the options available.
Modules may be taught at different times of the year and by a different department or school to the one your course is primarily based in. You can find this information from the module code. For example, the module code HR100-4-FY means:
| HR | 100 | 4 | FY |
|---|---|---|---|
|
The department or school the module will be taught by. In this example, the module would be taught by the Department of History. |
The module number. |
The UK academic level of the module. A standard undergraduate course will comprise of level 4, 5 and 6 modules - increasing as you progress through the course. A standard postgraduate taught course will comprise of level 7 modules. A postgraduate research degree is a level 8 qualification. |
The term the module will be taught in.
|
COMPONENT 01: COMPULSORY
Rebellious Pasts: Challenging and Creating Histories
(30 CREDITS)
The past is never dead. It’s not even past’. In a world of conspiracy theories, toppling statues, and ‘culture wars’, the novelist William Faulkner’s most famous line resonates more than ever. Across the globe, History is co-opted to multiple causes and used to justify contradictory positions. Such uses of History often rely on myths, stereotypes, and misunderstandings. How can we separate political belief, personal opinion, and false information about the past from historical knowledge and understanding? Rebellious Pasts looks at the creation, consolidation, and operation of historical myths and stereotypes – and at how we, as historians, can use the tools of our trade to identify and challenge misleading representations of the past, replacing them with richer forms of understanding. The module helps you to develop the critical mindset needed to analyse historical arguments wherever you find them, but also the constructive skills essential to researching and writing your own histories. It combines lectures and seminars exploring how history “works” in different contexts with archive visits and library workshops that expose you to the raw materials of History. On Rebellious Pasts, you will undertake self-directed research drawing upon digitized collections, archives, and heritage sector institutions, and translate your findings into accessible public history artefacts. At its heart, History is the refusal to accept easy assumptions and the insistence on negotiating with evidence, no matter how tricky that is. By the end of the module, you will understand why History is a rebellious discipline – and how to harness its unruly powers.
View Rebellious Pasts: Challenging and Creating Histories on our Module Directory
COMPONENT 02: COMPULSORY
Writing and Researching Art History
(15 CREDITS)
This module is intended as a skills-building course for first year art history students, to develop writing skills across a range of assessed and non-assessed writing types (essay, critical review, reading summary, label text, catalogue essay etc). The module will also present an introduction to research methods in art history, and a historical overview of art historical writing.
View Writing and Researching Art History on our Module Directory
COMPONENT 03: COMPULSORY
Art and Ideas: I
(15 CREDITS)
This module tackles some of the biggest questions surrounding the history of art. You will explore some key theoretical issues in the history of art, such as the nature of representation, by engaging critically with seminal texts and artworks. In this module, you will develop your analytical and interpretive skills, and leave with a solid foundation for the study of the history of art.
COMPONENT 04: COMPULSORY
Collect, Curate, Display: A Short History of the Museum
(15 CREDITS)
This module offers an introduction to the history of museums and galleries. We will consider the basic human instinct to collect and the creation of the first museums. We will examine ideas about taxonomy, ordering the world and the first museum spaces of display, asking questions about privilege and power. How have museums and galleries shaped history and science? What ethical issues are there today around these spaces? Should tobacco, oil and arms companies sponsor museums? Can museums be tools of ‘urban regeneration’? Do online archives and 3D scanning make museums themselves obsolete institutions?
View Collect, Curate, Display: A Short History of the Museum on our Module Directory
COMPONENT 05: COMPULSORY
Introduction to Heritage and Museum Studies
(15 CREDITS)
This module provides an introductory overview to the field of heritage and museum studies and explores some of the conceptual, political and ethical issues faced by those working within and researching in the area of heritage and museums.
View Introduction to Heritage and Museum Studies on our Module Directory
COMPONENT 07: COMPULSORY
Beyond the BA: Skills for the Next Step
(0 CREDITS)
This course introduces key academic, professional and personal skills to support a successful transition beyond undergraduate study. Students develop confidence in critical thinking, communication, teamwork and self reflection while exploring future study and career options.
View Beyond the BA: Skills for the Next Step on our Module Directory
COMPONENT 01: COMPULSORY
Art and Ideas II: More Art, More Ideas - Critique and Historiography in the History of Art
(15 CREDITS)
How did our society decide what counts as ‘art’ and what is ‘culture’? Is there really such a thing as high vs low culture? What are the political stakes of these divisions? This module looks at the shift in ideas from ‘art history’ to visual and material cultural studies. This module will engage with these debates and teach you new methods for seeing, interpreting and understanding art, design, craft, performance, fashion, film and videogames. These new ways of seeing are often driven by new theoretical ideas , and allow us to look at culture to draw out new perspectives on social and political issues of activism and social change, sex, technology, police violence, migration, austerity and crisis, state surveillance, and our relation to animals and the environment.
COMPONENT 01: COMPULSORY
Capstone - Art History / Curating / Heritage
(30 CREDITS)
In this module you will produce a capstone project, taking the form of either of an 8,000-word written dissertation, or a curatorial project or heritage project of equivalent scope. The finished capstone project should show an all-round grasp of your subject and the ability to present your material clearly, succinctly and in the most appropriate sequence. It should also demonstrate evidence of a serious engagement with your topic, a mastery of the information currently available, and the inclusion of your own reasoned, critical judgements. A supervisor will help guide you as you begin to develop a research question, start researching the topic and write the dissertation or develop the curating or heritage project. This is a capstone module, available to final-year students on Art History, Curating, or Heritage courses with permission only.
View Capstone - Art History / Curating / Heritage on our Module Directory
COMPONENT 02: COMPULSORY
Art and Ideas III
(15 CREDITS)
This third art and ideas module deepens your existing thematic and historiographical knowledge building on Art and Ideas II. In this module, we will familiarise ourselves with some of the most influential and insightful theoretical approaches to art in the 20th and 21st Century.
Entry requirements
Clearing entry requirements
We currently have places available in Clearing across a range of our courses with most offers expected to be made at CCD - CDD (88 - 80 UCAS tariff points) or equivalent. A complete breakdown of expected Clearing entry requirements, by course, is available on our Clearing entry requirements page.
We consider each application individually and requirements may be lower for some of our courses, so please still get in touch if your grades are below those outlined.
English language requirements
English language requirements for applicants whose first language is not English
IELTS 6.0 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in each component, or specified score in an equivalent test that we accept.
Details of English language requirements and the tests we accept for applicants who require a Student visa (excluding Nationals of Majority English Speaking Countries) can be found here
If we accept the English component of an international qualification it will be included in the academic levels listed above for the relevant countries.
Pre-sessional English courses
If you do not meet our IELTS requirements then you may be able to complete a pre-sessional English pathway that enables you to start your course without retaking IELTS.
Additional Notes
If you’re an international student, but do not meet the academic requirements for direct admission to this degree, you could prepare and gain entry through a pathway course. Find out more about opportunities available to you at the University of Essex International College
Fees and funding
Home/UK fee
£9,790 per year
International fee
£21,500 per year
Fees will increase for each academic year of study.
If your course has the option to include a placement year or study abroad, and you choose to do so, you will pay the following:
Placement year
20% of your standard tuition fee for that year
Study abroad
Full year abroad
15% of your standard tuition fee for that year
Single term abroad
Standard tuition fee
Scholarships and financial support
There may be scholarships, bursaries or discounts available to help with the cost of this course.
Fees and funding guide
What's next
Open Days
Our events are a great way to find out more about studying at Essex. We run a number of Open Days throughout the year which enable you to discover what our campus has to offer. You have the chance to:
- tour our campus and accommodation
- find out answers to your questions about our courses, student finance, graduate employability, student support and more
- meet our students and staff
Check out our Visit Us pages to find out more information about booking onto one of our events. And if the dates aren’t suitable for you, feel free to book a campus tour here.
2026 Open Days (Colchester Campus)
How to apply during Clearing
Once you’ve checked that we have the right course for you, applying couldn’t be simpler. Fill in our quick and easy Clearing application form with as much detail as you can. We’ll then take a look and get back to you with a decision.
If you already hold an offer from Essex
Please don't reapply through Clearing. We'll review your existing application using our Clearing entry requirements. If you're worried about meeting your offer or would like to change course, please contact our Admissions Team on ugquery@essex.ac.uk.
Interviews
We don’t require an interview for most of our courses that are available through Clearing, however there are some courses such as those in our School of Health and Social Care and East 15 Acting School where an interview (or audition) may be required. If this is something that’s required for the course you have applied for, we’ll email you with all of the details.
Visit Colchester Campus
Set within 200 acres of award-winning parkland - Wivenhoe Park and located two miles from the historic city centre of Colchester – England's oldest recorded development. Our Colchester Campus is also easily reached from London and Stansted Airport in under one hour.
Virtual tours
If you live too far away to come to Essex (or have a busy lifestyle), no problem. Our 360-degree virtual tour allows you to explore our University from the comfort of your home. Check out our Colchester virtual tour to see accommodation options, facilities and social spaces.
At Essex we pride ourselves on being a welcoming and inclusive student community. We offer a wide range of support to individuals and groups of student members who may have specific requirements, interests or responsibilities.
The University makes every effort to ensure that this information on its programme specification is accurate and up-to-date. Exceptionally it can be necessary to make changes, for example to courses, facilities or fees. Examples of such reasons might include, but are not limited to: strikes, other industrial action, staff illness, severe weather, fire, civil commotion, riot, invasion, terrorist attack or threat of terrorist attack (whether declared or not), natural disaster, restrictions imposed by government or public authorities, epidemic or pandemic disease, failure of public utilities or transport systems or the withdrawal/reduction of funding. Changes to courses may for example consist of variations to the content and method of delivery of programmes, courses and other services, to discontinue programmes, courses and other services and to merge or combine programmes or courses. The University will endeavour to keep such changes to a minimum, and will also keep students informed appropriately by updating our programme specifications. The University would inform and engage with you if your course was to be discontinued, and would provide you with options, where appropriate, in line with our Compensation and Refund Policy.
The full Procedures, Rules and Regulations of the University governing how it operates are set out in the Charter, Statutes and Ordinances and in the University Regulations, Policy and Procedures.
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