Collaboration between art museums and universities in Hong Kong : benefits, difficulties and methods

Museums have the responsibility to meet the needs and expectations of audiences with different backgrounds, including families, students, adults and the elderly. However, the needs of higher education students can easily be overlooked in Hong Kong art museums because their age and educational background fall into different target segments. By the late twentieth century, learning opportunities for higher education students, especially those who were majoring in fine arts, art history and museum studies were inadequate in Hong Kong. In view of the increasing arts programmes offered by tertiary institutions in 2000s Hong Kong, art museums play an important role in developing higher education students’ creativity and critical thinking by making use of their resources and expertise. Collaboration between art museums and universities through curricula is one effective method for strengthening art education at tertiary level in twenty-first century Hong Kong. Based on local and overseas scholarships on museum studies and archival materials in different museums, this dissertation examines both past and current education services provided by art museums in Hong Kong in order to reveal the benefits and difficulties of developing museum-university collaboration. Having interviewed with museum directors, curators and professors, I will present both qualitative and quantitive analyses of the education services provided by four focused institutions, including the University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong, the Art Museum of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Museum of Art, and M+. While reviewing learning models and pedagogical methods for higher education in a museum context, successful case studies of museum-university collaboration in overseas institutions, such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, will also be discussed. I will propose effective methods for strengthening collaboration between art museums and universities in Hong Kong. The research finding of this dissertation will provide feasible plans for museum practitioners, professors and policy makers to enhance the quality of higher education in art-related disciplines and museum services with insightful ideas