Museums play a vital role in preserving and sharing natural and human heritage, fostering cultural diversity, strengthening social cohesion, and advancing sustainable development. As the global museum sector has grown and transformed in recent years, it has come to face a pressing challenge: an imbalance in the supply of specialized professionals and gaps in expertise that make it harder for museums to adapt to a new era.
In response, Zhejiang University joined with leading universities worldwide to establish the International Alliance for Teaching Museology in University (IATMU)—a trans-regional disciplinary alliance dedicated to the professionalization, collaboration, and sustainable development of museology teaching and talent cultivation. Initiated by the School of Art and Archaeology at Zhejiang University, the Alliance fosters global partnerships and the sharing of high-quality resources in order to build new models, pathways, and ecosystems for educating museum professionals.
Mission and Goals
The Alliance seeks to transcend geographical and disciplinary boundaries—promoting global collaboration, the flow of resources, and shared mechanisms in museology teaching and professional training—so as to cultivate high-quality museum professionals and to support the innovative development and transformation of museums.
What We Stand For
The Alliance affirms the understanding of museums as non-profit, permanent institutions in the service of society that research, collect, conserve, interpret, and exhibit tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the public, accessible, and inclusive, museums foster diversity and sustainability.
It understands the teaching of museology as the systematic transmission of theoretical knowledge and practical skills in museum studies—cultivating professionals with the interdisciplinary knowledge and specialized abilities to carry out the work of museums, to support their sustainable development, and to respond to changing social needs.
What We Do
Annual conferences and symposia — an annual conference and academic seminar, hosted in turn by member institutions, where scholars and practitioners present research and share experience.
Shared teaching resources — the sharing and joint development of teaching resources and the dissemination of new pedagogical knowledge, including through online platforms.
Summer schools — annual summer schools for experimental teaching innovation and research.
A digital teaching platform — a digital teaching platform for museology that helps professional training adapt to the demands of the digital age.
Structure and Membership
The Alliance is guided by a Council, which provides expert advice on its policies, development, and planning, and is run by a Secretariat—its executive body—based in the Department of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage at the School of Art and Archaeology, Zhejiang University. Membership is open to universities and research institutions engaged in museology teaching. Over time, the Alliance intends to become a committee affiliated with the International Council of Museums (ICOM), contributing to the growth of museology worldwide.
Founding Members
United Kingdom
University College London
University of Leicester
University of Glasgow
France
The Sorbonne Nouvelle (New Sorbonne University)
Netherlands
Reinwardt Academy, Amsterdam University of the Arts
Australia
Australian National University
Chinese Mainland
Peking University
Fudan University
Nankai University
Shanghai University
Jilin University
Sichuan University
Shandong University
Zhejiang University
Hong Kong SAR
The University of Hong Kong
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Founding
Founding ceremony of the Alliance, Hangzhou, 23 November 2024.
IATMU’s founding consensus was adopted by its founding members in Hangzhou, China, on 23 November 2024, alongside the inaugural International University Colloquium on Teaching Museology (ICTMU).
See also: The 2024 Colloquium (ICTMU)