PLEASE NOTE: From the 2025 winter semester onwards, the certificate programme will be suspended for the time being and the modules will no longer be offered on a regular basis!

The role of university collections in the development of today’s academic disciplines cannot be overestimated. As teaching and learning resources, they offer a wide range of starting points for interdisciplinary research and provide students with opportunities for research-based learning. For this reason, the Institute of Material Culture, in co-operation with the Institute for Biology and Environmental Sciences, offers the certificate programme ‘Curatorial Practice in University Collections ’. The programme’s content is tailored to the academic collections of CvO University and, for Bachelor’s students, comprises the following modules: pb335 – Learning from Objects – University Collections as Objects of Teaching and Learning ( 6KP, winter semester) and pb336 – Research-Based Approaches to University Collections (6KP, summer semester). For Master’s students, the module ipb958 (15KP, winter and summer semesters) applies. Biology students cover the same content through the modules bio777 (=pb335) and bio783 (=pb336).

In the module pb335, students acquire knowledge of the history of university collections and their significance for the development of scientific theory. They also gain an overview of the holdings of CvO University, with particular attention paid to the specific characteristics of a reform university. Through scientific analysis at both the object and meta-levels, students also learn to formulate their own research questions. To this end, students attend the seminar ‘University Collections in Teaching and Research’ (2 SWS), a series of lectures on university collections (1 SWS) and undertake practical exercises in collection care (2 SWS) in the ‘Textile Everyday Culture’ collection.

In the follow-up module pb336, students attend a seminar with a collection-related focus (2 SWS). In the subsequent collections placement (40 hours), students work alongside staff in the day-to-day running of the collections (conservation work, etc.) and are given the opportunity to conduct research as part of their module examination. Upon successful completion of all module components, graduates receive a separate certificate for the programme.

PLEASE NOTE: From the winter semester 2025, the certificate programme will be suspended for the time being and the courses will no longer be offered on a regular basis!

Do you have any questions? Please contact the coordinators of the certificate programme by email:

Dr Maria Will (IBU)

(STAK)