Cultural Collections

Student Projects

The Student Projects Program (Cultural Collections) enables students to work behind the scenes with the University's many cultural collections. Each student project is developed after consultation between the Student Projects Coordinator and the relevant collection manager. All of the projects are of a high quality and provide students with the unique opportunity to expand their vocational skills and enrich their learning experience. The projects also add real value to the cultural collections and contribute to their management, preservation and appreciation.

Student Projects with Cultural Collections: 2007 - the year in review (pdf 713 kb).

Student Projects with Cultural Collections: 2006 at a glance.

Helen Arnoldi, 'A Response to The case for better management of volunteers', Insite [newsletter of Museums Australia (Victoria)], February-April 2008, p.11.

Helen Arnoldi, 'Engage, invigorate and educate: Cultural collections student projects', University of Melbourne Collections, issue 1, November 2007, pp. 30-2.

Helen Arnoldi, '2006 Student Projects at UMA', UMA Bulletin, no. 20, December 2006, p. 8.

What types of projects are available and which collections do they engage with?

For a selection of the projects that are currently being undertaken and offered to students this year see the projects list.

Projects attract students from a wide range of disciplines. This may be attributable to the diversity of the collections. They include museum, archive, library and science collections, the majority of which relate to the various disciplines that have historically been taught at this University. Most of the student projects are semester-long and on average students usually spend a day a week working on their project.

Through the projects, you can acquire new skills and advance your professional development while working closely with a cultural collection from the University. The projects are varied and cover a wide range of areas from cataloguing and research, through to significance assessment, the evaluation of basic conservation requirements and exhibition development. There is no payment involved, but you will receive training specific to your project and ongoing support from the Cultural Collections Unit.

For 2007 the projects have been drawn from the following collections:

Past Student Projects with Cultural Collections and Who Can Apply

Since mid-2004, eighty-five students have participated, working on many facets of the cultural collections. The students have come from varied academic backgrounds including Information Management, Art Curatorship, History, Museum Studies, Information Technology, Music, Engineering and Art History. Further, these students have come from a range of tertiary institutions and courses - including the University of Melbourne, Monash University, Swinburne TAFE, RMIT, Deakin University and Charles Sturt University.

While some students chose to undertake placements to satisfy course requirements and internship subjects, other students have voluntarily completed placements in their leisure time to gain invaluable professional skills to complement their academic studies. In many cases, these skills have later helped the students gain employment in their chosen field.

All the student projects represent a mutually beneficial experience - for students the vocational skills developed through working closely with a collection are invaluable as is the opportunity to network with professional people within the cultural heritage sector. Similarly, the collections benefit from the students' dedication, interests and skills. For a summary of some of the 2005 projects see Uni's Cultural Collections Offer Students a Unique Opportunity (UniNews article).

Cultural Collections Bolster Vocational Education

Cultural Collections: A Rich Legacy of Art and Artefacts at the University of Melbourne Plays an Essential Role in Vocational Education

Scholarship takes student to the British Museum

How to Apply

If you think that the Student Projects Program with Cultural Collections may be of interest to you, please follow the link to the expression of interest form, print out and return the completed form along with a copy of your curriculum vitae to:

Helen Arnoldi
Student Projects Co-ordinator,
Cultural Collections
Information Management Program, Information Services
Room 222, Level 1, Baillieu Library
University of Melbourne VIC 3010

harnoldi@unimelb.edu.au
tel (03) 8344 3103

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