Posted on

UMTWS 2019 edition was a success

Last week, university museum professionals from all over China gathered at the Qian Xuesen Library and Museum, Shanghai Jiao Tong University for another edition of the UMTWS.

This year, the course counted with the presence of Marta Lourenço (UMAC Chair), Jill Hartz (President Emeritus of the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries USA), Sébastien Soubiran (President of Universeum, the European Academic Heritage Network) and Andrew Simpson (UMAC Board). Moreover, from China, and apart from Laishun AN (Vice-President of ICOM), high officials from the cultural sector attended, namely Qiang GUAN and Xiaobo CHU, respectively responsible for the cultural heritage of China and Shanghai.

Kai Zhang and Hu Hao were our kind hosts at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Xiaobo CHU, Qiang GUAN, Marta Lourenço, Laishun AN and Kai ZHANG.

UMAC and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have agreed to continue their partnership, diversifying the training offer to suit different types of professionals and creating new initiatives to promote university museums in China.

Posted on

University Museums Training Week Shanghai: 2019 edition is next week!

Next week, 33 university museum professionals from China and Japan will participate in the University Museum Training Week Shanghai UMTWS 2019, 23-27 April, organized by UMAC-ICOM in partnership with the Qian Xuesen Library and Museum, Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

The UMTWS is part of UMAC’s strategic Professional Development Program, aimed at significantly increasing the qualification of university museum professionals worldwide. Almost 100 Chinese professionals have been trained by the UMTWS since its first edition in 2016.

In 2019, UMTWS is dedicated to the theme INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE UNIVERSITY: A ROADMAP TO UNDERSTANDING UNIVERSITY MUSEUMS TODAY. The program of the 5-day course is rich and intense, encompassing lectures, round tables, workshops and visits to university museums in Shanghai. Faculty includes Andrew Simpson (Macquarie University, Australia), Jill Hartz (University of Oregon, USA), Xiangguang Song (Peking University, China), and Zhongmou Li (Shimao Group, China).

Moreover, the opening ceremony will count with Qiang Guan, Vice-President of the National Cultural Heritage Administration of China, and An Laishun, Vice-President of ICOM and Vice-President and Secretary-General of the Chinese Museums Association, in representation of ICOM.

In the words of Marta C. Lourenço, UMAC-ICOM President, and Kai Zhang, Executive Director of the Qian Xuesen Library and Museum, “UMTWSs are currently the only regular and sustained training offer for university museum professionals anywhere in the world and we want to reach many more in coming years. That is why in 2019 we are both very excited to take the UMAC-QLM-SJTU partnership a step further”.

UMTWS 2019 is supported by the two largest university museums associations in China: the National Educational Alliance of University and College Museums (NEAUCM) and the Shanghai Educational Alliance of University and College Museums (SEAUCM).

Media release