Cultural Heritage Conservation Science, MSc

Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Italy

Study options for this course

The award	How you will study	Study duration	Course start	Domestic course fees	International course fees
MSc	Full-time	2 years	September	find out	find out

About Cultural Heritage Conservation Science, MSc - at Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra

The master degree in 'Cultural Heritage Conservation Science' is aimed at students who want to extend and deepen the skills acquired in previous degree courses to enter in the world of research or profession in the field of conservation science of cultural heritage.

In this light, the master degree aims to transmit an in-depth knowledge of the methods and technologies that the mathematical, physical and natural sciences make available today for the preservation of cultural heritage; moreover, it aims to provide the scientific skills allowing further development in these research fields. It aims to train future Conservation Scientists, i.e. experts in science and technology applied to cultural heritage with a high interdisciplinary educational background. Since there are many types of cultural heritage, it is appropriate to specify that the course will focus on the historical-artistic, archaeological, architectural, on museums and on information storage media, because they are the ones deeply rooted in the cultural tradition of the proposers and, in view of the future professional opportunities for graduates, the most relevant for the research field and the employment market. Therefore, the master degree will prepare professional profiles of:

1 - experts in diagnostics and application technology to historical and artistic cultural heritage, with particular reference to wall and on wooden paintings and textile supports;

2 - experts in diagnostics and technology applied to archaeological cultural heritage (geoarchaeologists and archaeometres);

3 - conservation experts applied to museum cultural heritage; 4 - experts in diagnostics and technology applied to information storage media.

In addition to theoretical courses, numerous laboratories are provided to support the notions with the necessary applications, in order to make the interface with the research and professional worlds stricter. The training offer proposed is composed of courses for each area envisaged by the ministerial educational system (Conservation Sciences and Technologies, Earth and Nature Sciences, Interdisciplinary Training), corroborated by supplementary courses, as well as by the internships and the final dissertation. Through this offer the students will be oriented and guided to finalize their training to achieve one of the proposed professional profiles.

The master degree aims to transmit the wide range of knowledge necessary to operate at the level of excellence in the field of cultural heritage diagnostics and conservation, taking as a cultural reference the interdisciplinary nature of the professions of the research field.

In particular, the master graduated will acquire in-depth theoretical, methodological and experimental skills in the Conservation Sciences applied to Cultural Heritage, in order to identify new theoretical developments and to operate at decision-making level in all areas of the sciences applied to Cultural Heritage.

For more information about this course, please see the program leaflet.

Learn more about Cultural Heritage Conservation Science, MSc - at Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra

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Entry requirements

Bachelor's graduates in Diagnostics for the conservation of cultural heritage (class L-43) can access the Master's degree programme in Science and technology for the diagnosis and preservation of cultural heritage. Graduates from other eligible programmes, both in Italy and abroad, can also be admitted, if they meet skills requirements.
Admission assessment
All candidates will be assessed through an interview with a board made up of faculty members appointed by the Academic Board, with a view to identifying any shortcomings in their educational background. The interview may also take place before graduating from the Bachelor's programme. However, for the purpose of enrolment, the candidate must obtain their degree by 31 December 2023.

Fees, Funding and Scholarships at Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra

Università degli Studi di Milano offers different opportunities for financial support to Italian and foreign students, as described at the financial support web page.

In particular scholarships and exemptions from tuition fee are provided to the best new students who got a degree from a foreign university and are enrolled in the first year of a Master's degree programme. See the web page on International scholarships for further details.