The University of Navarra launches a Diploma in Curatorial Studies for the 2014-15 academic year. This new offer will allow the development of the teaching area of the Museum of the University of Navarra and will have the character of its own degree with an interdisciplinary teaching load of 60 ETCS. The academic direction depends on the Faculty of Philosophy and LettersThe program will be coordinated by Professor Asunción Domeño.

Of the contents of the new diploma, 35% are related to art, history or cultural management; 28% to communication, 22% to space management and architecture, and 14% to various disciplines, such as education.

The Diploma in Curatorial Studies will provide specific training for a professional field that had important deficiencies in our country. The main professional opportunities for a curator or art curator can be: management of cultural heritage, art galleries and exhibition halls, Museums, Collections, Art Consulting, Art Fairs, Art Market or cultural project management.

The Diploma is open to any student of the University and is intended to be taken from the first year of their studies, simultaneously with the Bachelor's Degree. Candidates for curatorial training should be interested in developing skills such as: creativity, interdisciplinary vision, management and coordination skills, organizational skills, knowledge of conservation and/or mounting conditions, spatial perception, and social and institutional communication skills.

Research and artistic teaching

Rosalía Baena, dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters said that "although the Diploma is open to any student of the University, due to the affinity of contents, it can provide an area of specialization to graduates in the field of Humanities. Specifically, students of the History and Humanities degrees will be able to take it without additional teaching load. There are many areas in which we share the same interests as the Museum of the University of Navarra, for research and the dissemination of culture".

For his part, Miguel López-Remiro, director of the Museum, said that "the Museo Universidad de Navarra supports its raison d'être on three fundamental pillars: research, teaching and the dissemination of contemporary art. The Diploma in Curatorial Studies becomes a necessary support to carry out the Museum's teaching activities. We want to train people for the curatorial work of an artistic project, relying on the University's professors and on the professionals who will work at the Museum. We are very excited to see how the future exhibition halls will become places frequented by students taking the diploma".

Rafael Llano, the Museum's Research Advisor declares that "the Diploma in Curatorial Studies benefits, on the one hand, from the prestige of the professors of the University of Navarra, who will explain the fundamental subjects of curatorship with the scientific and pedagogical stature that is customary at this university. On the other hand, the Diploma will also take advantage of the existence -unique in Spain- of a contemporary art museum on campus. The students who take this Diploma will have exclusive seminars with the curators of the temporary exhibitions programmed at the Museum; they will accompany them at the openings, attend press conferences, and follow the guided tour of the exhibition. In other words, they will live the curatorial experience from the very first moment, and will learn directly from the best national and international curators the practice of this profession. The Diploma will provide the intellectual and practical, artistic and social foundations of artistic direction, which at the University of Navarra will combine the exhibition and stage dimensions".