Bachelor of Arts in Art History, Musicology and Theatre Studies
Ghent University’s Art History programme has a concept that is unique in Flanders. A broad basic education covers all the art disciplines, and gradually deepens depending on your choice of one specific discipline: Visual Arts, Performing Arts or Musicology.
What
The most outstanding feature of Ghent University’s Art History programme, you ask? Without a doubt that is the programme’s broad, general education in Art Studies, combined with the possibility of specialisation in a specific artistic discipline, but without losing touch with the other disciplines.
Specialisation starts in the second year by choosing one of three majors:
- Visual Arts
The Visual Arts major offers an in-depth specialisation in the study of the plastic arts. It encompasses visual arts from all periods up to the present day, and highlights various visual forms, such as painting and sculpture, drawing, graphics, photography, film, fashion, design, or historical interior. The interaction between architecture and the visual arts is an important focal point, too.
- Performing Arts
In this major you study the performing arts in their broadest sense: text theatre, performance, music theatre, dance and even new forms of circus and puppetry. This rich field of study focuses on the dramatic text as well as the performance, often in relation to the new media.
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Musicology
The Musicology major provides you with the broadest possible musicology-related knowledge and skills. Its focus is twofold: on the one hand, you will be introduced to the history and current trends of European music. On the other hand, you will get to know systematic musicology, experimental research on the effects of music on humans. At the Institute for Psychoacoustics and Electronic Music (IPEM), one of the world leaders in the field, you will learn to work with state-of-the-arts technologies and equipment.
For whom
You do not need prompting to visit museums and attend exhibitions, concerts, theatre and dance performances, and you are fascinated by architecture and monuments. You have an artistic sensitivity, and you are interested in art and culture in its many forms. Moreover, a critical and inquisitive mindset are second nature to you. If the answer to all these questions is a resounding 'yes’, the Art History programme is the right choice for you! You will learn how to ‘see, hear and feel’ how art works. In the light of the above, prior education plays second fiddle. If you opt for the Musicology major, however, a basic knowledge of solfège will come in handy. Not unimportant either is an aptitude for and interest in foreign languages: a passive knowledge of English, French and German will give you a head start going through the specialist literature. Prior knowledge of Latin and/or Greek is not a must, but can be an asset.
Structure
Bachelor
The first year offers a broad introduction to the Humanities. Together with students from other study programmes, you will take on a number of general introductory course units in philosophy, literature, archaeology, historical criticism, and anthropology. In addition, you will receive a historical and theoretical introduction to the different artistic disciplines, i.e. Visual Arts, Architecture, Performing Arts, and Musicology. The essential historical basic knowledge is further explored in the cross-disciplinary course units. Basic research skills are taught as well. Specialisation starts in the second year by choosing one of three majors: Visual Arts, Musicology, or Performing Arts. The second-year curriculum also offers a choice of minors, containing coherent sets of course units from another, complementary discipline. The third year focuses on further specialisation in your choice of major, and on putting previously acquired knowledge into practice. Also part of the third year, is the Bachelor’s dissertation: a test in independent, critical thought. The Bachelor’s dissertation is at once your graduation project and preparation for the Master’s programme.
Master
During the Master’s programme you acquire the expertise needed to take on research-oriented or policy advisor positions. For that purpose, the education activities in the Master’s curriculum are based on topical academic research. You can choose specific tutorials and in-depth research seminars; we organise symposiums and study days (with or without the collaboration of third-party specialists); we set up collaborations with museums and academic institutions, and classes are interactive. By means of the Master's dissertation, you prove that you are able to formulate problem statements independently, and to deliver research results that are at once well-considered and critical.
In addition to the (domain) Master’s programme described above, you can also choose a Master’s Programme in Teaching (in Dutch: Educatieve Master (120 sp)).
Labour Market
Our study programme offers a wide range of career opportunities depending on the chosen major (specialisation), and our graduates enter a rich and diversified labour market. You are eligible for positions in the broad artistic and cultural field: at museums, concert and theatre houses, libraries, archives associated with art history, archaeology or music studies institutions, in the preservation of monuments and historic buildings sector, heritage institutions and centres of expertise on cultural heritage, cultural dissemination.
Quality Assurance
At Ghent University, we strive to educate people who dare to think about the challenges of tomorrow. For that purpose, we provide education that is embedded in six strategic objectives: Think Broadly, Keep Researching, Cultivate Talent, Contribute, Extend Horizons, Opt for Quality.
Ghent University continuously focuses on quality assurance and quality culture. The Ghent University's quality assurance system offers information on each study programme’s unique selling points, and on its strengths and weaknesses with regard to quality assurance.
More information:
Unique Selling Points
- Multiperspectivism: our unique concept brings together various artistic disciplines (Visual Arts, Architecture, Musicology, Performing Arts and Media Studies) in one and the same Arts Programme. Keeping in mind the (audio)visual and performance component as a common factor, we study these study disciplines from different angles and academic approaches. Among other things, we stimulate cross-disciplinarity by allowing students to take up course units from other majors.
- Collaboration with the professional field: our lecturers have close ties to the professional field (e.g. the museum, heritage, concert and music sectors). These regular stakeholder contacts not only translate themselves into topical teaching contents, but also into various teaching methods such as guest lectures, excursions, assignments and exercises, and references to exhibitions and academic publications.
- Clear curriculum structure: our new curriculum (introduced in the academic year 2018-2019) boasts a clear structure that facilitates a step-by-step accumulation of (broad, specific, and theoretical) knowledge, insight, and (research and practical) skills. After completing the broad first year containing a number of faculty-wide course units, our students can choose one of three deepening majors from the second year onwards. In addition to their choice of major, students take a number of general course units and elective course units from other majors. The Master’s programme allows for further specialization and a strong focus on research.
- Integration of theory and practice: in addition to lectures, our programme also offers more practice-oriented knowledge and hands-on experiences through work placement, an international excursion, seminars and practicals, research seminars, the “joker week” in collaboration with the Architecture programme, and future plans concerning the Vanden Hove pavilion. We use these formats to whet our students’ critical thought, and creative and problem-solving abilities. Upon graduation, our students are critical professionals who are able to work in team.
- Research-based education: our lecturers combine their teaching assignment with conducting (inter)nationally acclaimed research. Our teaching practice contains topical (inter)national research. As the curriculum progresses, lecturers’ own research is increasingly present in the choice of topics, specific angles, and assignments. Our research also focuses on social applicability.
Strengths
- Our programme boasts a dedicated team of lectures from various disciplines, all of whom combine their research expertise with a passion for teaching. Our lecturers all invest heavily in the quality of their teaching practice, ensuring a balanced mix of lectures and other didactic methods.
- From the second year onwards, our programme gives students a certain degree of freedom in tailoring the curriculum according to their own interests. There is a choice of three majors and five minors, and from the third year onwards there is room for electives as well.Our programme structure enables students to put together their own study trajectory, either by opting for one specific specialization, or by keeping several options open.
- Approachability: during lectures we are open to questions and debate. As students progress in the programme, we stimulate this interaction further by, among other things, interactive teaching methods, presentations and oral exams. We stimulate this actively throughout the entire programme.
- Although student groups are large, we are committed to a diversified assessment practice throughout the programme. In our variety of assessment methods there is a clear evolution from mainly written exams (multiple choice, essay questions, and image-based questions) to oral exams, papers, seminars based on reading assignments, group work and individual assignments.
- By way of preparation for the professional field, our curriculum also includes opportunities for acquiring practical skills, of which work placement makes up an essential component. In addition, practical skills are honed during our international excursion, the “joker week” and the Master’s seminars.
Challenges
- Students rightly point out that feedback on assignment is sometimes scarce, or that they are not always informed of feedback opportunities. We are committed to address this problem structurally, and to communicate clearly on existing feedback opportunities.
- Social entrepreneurship: such skills as taking the initiative, being active and creative, and being able to work autonomously and hands-on, so feedback by work placement supervisors has taught us, are highly valued on the labour market. We therefore wish to invest more in strengthening our students’ entrepreneurial spirit by incorporating it in several course units and in extracurricular activities.
- Students are in the habit of postponing their Master’s dissertation to the resit exam period, or even to an additional term or year. The Master’s dissertation process in our programme therefore needs stricter following up. We are committed to address this problem together with the students.
This study programme is accredited by the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (Dutch: NVAO). Accreditation was extended following the positive outcome of the institutional review in 2022. Programme quality was validated by a quality review, i.e. a screening of the Education Monitor by the Education Quality Board. The Quality Assurance Resolution (in Dutch) can be found here.
This information was last updated on 01/02/2023.
In case of questions or suggestions with regard to the publicly available information, please contact the study programme.