At the undergraduate level, the ERASMUS programme provides many opportunities
for students to travel to different universities to acquire an education
with a larger European view. One basic goal of the Centres of Excellence
is to establish a postgraduate equivalent for the ERASMUS programme. In
this context, a role of the Centres is to prepare students for the practical
challenges of combining technological convergence with the need for continued
cultural diversity. The courses will range from general topics such as
linking cultural objects with databases to specialized degrees in electronic
publishing or digital film and television. These scholarly degrees will
combine theoretical and critical context with practical skills.
The aim is to create degree programmes, which can be followed at a combination
of universities. Hence a student might begin postgraduate work in Bologna,
spend a term or two in Vienna, and finish their doctorate at Maastricht
or conversely. While the exchange programmes are intended primarily for
postgraduate students, it will be useful to have some exchanges for professors
in order for them to become more aware of different learning styles in
various centres. Co-ordination of these new degrees will overlap somewhat
with co-ordination of research.
With respect to post-graduate work in digital culture, the Scuola
Normale[1] has been a pioneer. It organized two of the earliest
international conferences in the field (1977, 1984), the latter
jointly with the Getty Trust. At its Palazzone in Cortona, the Scuola
Normale has organized one of the first extensive Masters courses
in digital cultural heritage bringing together experts from many
European centres (e.g. Berlin, Madrid, Paris, Vienna). It is foreseen
that the Cortona course will be expanded from its present 130 hours
to a full 400 hours to create a Masters degree in Digital Cultural
Heritage within the next year. An initial course will focus on combinations
of cultural objects with databases. A challenge lies in ensuring
that diverse methods are duly represented. To this end, the Universidad
Complutense (Madrid) is engaged in the pilot project. The University
of Bologna, which was the first to introduce a Doctorate in (Art)
History and Computing (1995), is exploring the development of European
Doctorates.
[1] The University
of Pisa has developed an Italian Consortium, FORMA (Formazione,
ricerca e metodologie Applicate ai Beni culturali), which includes
the International Centre for Architecture, Andrea Palladio (Vicenza),
the Institute and Museum for the History of Science (Florence),
the universities of Benevento, Catania, Perugia, Rome 1 (Sapienza),
and Rome 3. This consortium is focussing on the creation of a new
two year multimedia Master of Arts (M.A), in which one year would
focus on developing critical methods through study of the history
of perception and representation, while an (optional) second year
would emphasise training in the use of new technologies.
