ABOUT THE MUSEUM MANAGEMENT TRAINING (MMT) FOR HEIs
University museums are powerful resource centers for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) looking to maximize the impact of their teaching and research to new audiences. These can provide both students and faculty with supplementary learning resources that can reinforce teaching and learning processes, while also creating opportunities to offer museum-based pedagogy and experiential approaches to learning.
In 2019, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) approved the project, Museum Management Training for HEIs: Transforming University Museums as Sites of Cultural Education and Creativity Tourism Destinations through the Study on the Philippines Program (StudyPh Edu Tourism) with funding allocation from CHED’s Building the Internationalization Competitiveness of the Philippines Program.
The project aims to gather educators and HEI leaders to increase their knowledge and appreciation of university museums. In addition, the project intends to provide technical assistance to State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) in improving their museums so as to become centers for cultural learning and tourist destinations. Year 1 (Levels 1-3) was implemented in 2020-2021 at the height of the pandemic. The webinars were conducted online and were made accessible to the participants. The participants were over 1,500 participants: museum staff, docents, cultural workers, educators, and students, among others from all over the Philippines. In Year 2 (Levels 1-3), a four-day training was held face-to-face in Baguio City in August 2022, with 150 shortlisted museum participants from the country. On the third year (2022-2023), the training focused on Museums and Virtuality, with 150 participants who attended the training last July 2023 in Baguio City.
The MMT which runs from 2020-2023 had online webinars, face-to-face museum training workshops, and technical assistance to improve the SUC museums, and now have eventually become centers for learning and creativity tourism destinations.
The project is generously funded by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and implemented by University of the Philippines Baguio.
Museum Management Training for HEIs (Year 1): Transforming University Museums as Sites of Cultural Education and Creativity Tourism Destinations (2020-2021)
Museum Management Training (MMT1) for HEIs was originally planned as a convention of museum workers and university presidents at a five-day in-house training in Baguio City scheduled for 2020. But with the COVID-19 pandemic, it was redesigned to an online training for a period of two months, twice a week for two hours each day with 15 webinar sessions, now available online and free of charge. It trained 600 participants: museum workers, students and faculty all over the Philippines at the height of the pandemic. MMT1 provided basic museology training to the participants.
Museum Management Training for HEIs (Year 2): Transforming University Museums as Sites of Cultural Education and Creativity Tourism Destinations (2021-2022)
With the success of Museum Management Training (MMT1) for HEIs, the learnings cascaded and positively impacted university museums. MMT2 aims to achieve the same goals in assisting university museums and aimed for a more applied and practical museum management training with 400 participants selected through the training needs assessment survey. MMT2 is advanced museology with a combination of online trainings through webinars and a four-day hands-on museum workshop conducted by museum experts in UP Baguio, Baguio City.
Museum Management Training for HEIs (Year 3): Museums and Virtuality: Establishment of Virtual Tours for SUCs in the Philippines (2023)
The University Museums transitioned to the adoption of technology as a response to the COVID-19 crisis. Drawing from digital technology, MMT3 conducted face-to-face training on how to create and curate online content for online platforms, developing museum websites, and virtual museum tour to provide educational content. All these to be made accessible to enhance cultural learning. MMT3 also provided continuing technical assistance to HEI museums throughout the Philippines.
Capacity Building for Museum Workers
Museo Kordilyera 3D Virtual Museum
Participants are trained to create their own 3D virtual exhibition based on the curated content and data provided by HEI museums. Museo Kordilyera through the auspices of the CHED STUDYPh grant developed their own website, the first of its kind in Northern Luzon, and have been a useful resource on the cultures of the Cordillera region.
Online Webinars
MMT through a series of online webinars were delivered by a caliber museum practitioners and technical experts from various institutions. The webinars range from basic and advanced museology derived from their own experiences as curators, conservators, directors, and museum administrators. The webinars are archived and are free and accessible online.
Face-to-Face Training
The museum training provide trainings and workshops on basic and advance museology: from curation, collections management, preventive conservation, taxidermy, installation of exhibitions, educational programming, photography of artifacts among others. The training is the hands-on component of the MMTs that allows interaction, discussion and handling of actual artifacts of the museum.
Technical Assistance
The project also provides technical assistance to university museums upon request. Based on needs analysis with university museums from various regions in the Philippines, recommendations are made by technical experts through ocular visits in situ. Technical assistance also involves the crafting of proposals, curatorial work, exhibition, and benchmarking, among others to improve existing museums; and/or provide advice for museum development.
MMT produced five volumes of the proceedings from MMT 1-3. These are important resources on basic and advanced museology that can be a reference guide and sourcebook for universities and other museums. Through the CHED STUDYPh grant, the project team acquired various publications related to museum work and can now be accessed at the UP Baguio Library and Museo Kordilyera.
Training Kits
Is a starter kit of basic tools and materials used in museums. Participants were given a kit that can be used in their respective museums for collections care.
MMT3 produced a directory of participating HEI and SUC museums all over the Philippines for networking and exchange of best practices in university museums.
MMT participants built friendships through cooperation and collaboration throughout the trainings. We also hear news and updates from various museums on how they developed and reinvigorated their museums.