BA Museum Studies and Archaeology

This is an exciting opportunity to study BA Museum Studies and Archaeology at an undergraduate level.
Learn to think and research like a museum professional while gaining hands-on experience at our three on-site museums and on archaeological digs.
This Joint Honours course combines the contemporary theory and practice of museum studies with the academic and practical study of archaeology. At the University of Reading, our expertise in Archaeology starts with the earliest humans and spans up until the medieval period. We focus mainly on British, European and Near Eastern Archaeology, but also explore other regions across the world.
Our Department is ranked  in the top 10 UK universities for Archaeology (QS World University Rankings by Subject, 2019). The Department of Archaeology also has an outstanding track record for student satisfaction, with satisfaction scores of 90-100% for the quality of our courses in every National Student Survey between 2010 and 2018.
Central to the course is the hands-on experience you will gain at our on-site museums. The University has three museums – including the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology – in which you can gain experience as a volunteer while you learn. As well as museums we also have a number of special collections, including art and rare books.
You will develop the knowledge and skills necessary to be a museum professional by considering the environment that artefacts are displayed in, how they are catalogued and the meanings they hold for different audiences.
Our museum teaching staff are all practising professionals, including curators, conservators and archivists, and use a combination of problem-solving and enquiry based learning techniques in their teaching. You will be given the opportunity to conduct your own research throughout the course, and in your final year, you will design, create and evaluate your own exhibition.