CILIP is delighted to announce that the Bachelor of Arts Cultural Heritage Studies, Libraries, Archives and Museums course at the University of Aberystwyth has become the first of its kind to receive CILIP accreditation, recognising that it provides solid preparation for professional practice and a suitable base for anybody entering the cultural heritage sector. At the institution’s assessment visit in December 2020, the programme was added to the current offer of accredited degrees from the Department including a new undergraduate Joint Honours degree.

Helen Berry, CILIP’s Workforce Development Manager said “CILIP is delighted to expand its accreditation programme to this area. As with our information and knowledge Learning Providers, this degree has been judged against the Professional Knowledge and Skills Base tool (PKSB) and demonstrates the breadth of experience and attributes required for a skilled professional in the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) sector."

Independent assessor, Roisin Gwyer, herself an Alumna of the university, commended the way the University of Aberystwyth programmes combine theory and practical teaching to support students in gaining a thorough understanding of the subject. Additionally, the inclusion of external speakers to share knowledge and experience and opportunities to work within and visit a number of institutions reflects the emphasis on preparing future practitioners.

Head of the Department of Information Studies, Dr Anoush Simon commented “We are delighted that CILIP has recently accredited the Department’s new undergraduate schemes. The BA in “Cultural Heritage Studies: libraries, archive and museums” seeks to fill a gap in the educational landscape, responding to and acknowledging the interest of students in information and cultural heritage – covering libraries and information services, archives, museums, and the wider heritage sector. This broad-based scheme introduces student to key information providers in their historical and current contexts, and highlights important social, cultural, and ethical debates around the collection, preservation and provision of access to our intellectual and cultural heritage. The degree is a professional qualification, allowing students to explore and develop their interests and skills in this area, and also acts as a route into more specialised study at postgraduate level. The role and impact of digital information is integral to this degree, acknowledging its growing importance but also the challenges it places on the information and heritage professions around privacy, security, preservation and information ethics. A complementary Joint Honours scheme in “Information Studies” allows students to pair their study with other selected subjects in the University."

CILIP’s Learning Provider accreditation programme is designed to help students choose information career programmes that cover the essential skills and knowledge, and have been rigorously assessed by CILIP. Accredited programmes are assessed using the CILIP PKSB which identifies the core knowledge and skills of the very broad information profession.