Folkloristics and Applied Heritage Studies University of Tartu

Overview

The aim of the programme is to train specialists who are well versed in scholarly approaches to folk culture and cultural heritage and competent to use this expertise creatively in academia and beyond. Heritage has emerged as a key category shaping how individuals, communities and regional and state-level actors relate to the past and imagine the future while making and re-making themselves in the present. 

The Folkloristics and Applied Heritage Studies programme is one of the few master's programmes to offer a specialisation in the study and application of the heritage of crafts.

Why study Folkloristics and Applied Heritage Studies at the University of Tartu ?

• There is a growing need for cultural heritage and policy specialists as more states worldwide join the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

• The University of Tartu hosts the UNESCO Chair on Applied Studies of Intangible Cultural Heritage, one of the seven chairs in the world, and participates in the new Erasmus Mundus Joint Master's in Education in Museums and Heritage.

• You can choose between two specialisations: analysis of folklore and cultural heritage or study and application of the heritage of craft. You will receive individual mentoring to develop your academic and professional career. Studies are completed with a master's thesis or a practically oriented master's project.

• After graduation, you can pursue a doctoral degree, work as a specialist in the burgeoning field of (intangible) cultural heritage and utilise your expertise to contribute to the business sector.

• The University of Tartu belongs to the top 350 universities in the world.

Career opportunities

• Upon completing the programme, students have acquired valuable analytical, writing and communication skills and multifaceted practical experiences that they can apply in many public and non-governmental sectors and business areas. 

• This programme trains experts in folk culture who are knowledgeable about the functions and application opportunities of tangible and intangible cultural heritage and familiar with cultural policy processes.

• Graduates can guide the field's development and act as mediators between communities, officials, enterprises, memory institutions and other participants in the process of heritage production. They can plan and carry out research and business projects on cultural heritage. 

• As more states worldwide join the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, the need grows for specialists capable of analysing cultural heritage and using it responsibly as a social and economic resource.