Event on „The training of museum professionals and the development of digital skills“ in Greece

The DAISSy Research group of the Hellenic Open University (HOU), organized with great success the event on “Training of museum professionals and developing digital skills”, on Monday 24^th of June 2019 at the Hotel Electra Metropolis, Athens. The event was organized within the framework of the European project Mu.SA - Museum of Alliance, funded by the Erasmus + / Sector Skills Alliance, coordinated by the DAISSy research group, Hellenic Open University.

The aim of the project is to bridge the gap between formal education and the labor market, a gap that occurred due to the quickening pace of the adoption of ICT in the museum sector and the subsequent emergence of new specialties. The project investigates the training opportunities provided on digital and transferable skills for museologists, cultural professionals and students and the level of practical application of these competences.

The aim of the event was to present the research’ results and the activities of the project Mu.SA, the detailed description of the 4 role profiles as well the overview of Mu.SA's Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) with the title "Essential skills for Museum Professionals". The MOOC was offered in the first quarter of 2019 with more than 5,000 entries from culture and museum professionals worldwide.

During the event were awarded the Certificates to those who had successfully completed the MOOC.

The second part of the event included talks by representatives of the cultural sector such as the Vice –president of ICOM GR, the Head of Directorate for the Administration of the National Monument Archives, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, and a museologist – board member of a company in culture, who all expressed their thoughts on the continuous, professional training in the field of cultural heritage in Greece.

The event closed with the talk by IEK –AKMI, partner of the project, who presented to the audience the content and the aims of the specialization in each of the 4 profiles of the Mu.SA project through the Specialization courses, that would be available for 120 selected from Greece, Italy and Portugal. There followed a brief discussion with the public.

The event was a major success, attracting more than 70 participants frοm the cultural sector, museum working personnel and those who are interested to continue their training in Mu.SA. The participants had the opportunity to exchange ideas and practices on the professional and organizational development of cultural operators, tackling the lack of digital skills, the importance of training programs such as the one offered by Mu.SA and the need to continue this program in the coming years due to its great response.

The event was videotaped and will be available through the DAISSy YouTube channel, along with mini interviews with students who successfully completed MOOC.

Participants from the cultural sector and the museums were informed through printed material about other EU projects in culture, such EUHeritage project, in which DAISSy - HOU is partner.