The Roles of Museums in Modern Societies as a Learning Opportunity for Higher Education Students

Abstract

Widely acknowledged as drivers of social and economic development, in
the past few decades the number of museums has grown dramatically all over the world,
as key elements in public policies related to the requalification of urban areas.
Due to the different values and roles of contemporary museums, they are recognised as
providing a variety of learning opportunities for higher-education students engaged in
cultural studies. Therefore, the 2021-22 class of Spanish Culture for Business III, of the
MA in Intercultural Studies for Business (ISCAP, P.PORTO), were invited to explore the
characteristics and distinguishing features of several recently-opened museums, located
in small or medium-size cities of Spanish-speaking countries. The result was the
production of eight original case studies that shed light on different aspects of the
relationships established between those institutions and their surrounding areas.
Thus, the most relevant findings of the students’ research are presented, adapted for the
purposes of this paper, as well as the necessary theoretical contextualisation. Dealing with
very different types of museum, each case study illustrates the variety of, positive or negative, ways in which museums can articulate with the communities that they seek to
serve.