Illinois Association of Museums - How Museums Can Partner with Universities to Develop Emerging Talent

Museum people helping other museum people be

better museum people.

How Museums Can Partner with Universities to Develop Emerging Talent

10 May 2025 9:17 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

By: David Bellm, Illinois Association of Museums Volunteer

Fresh, forward-thinking talent can bring vitality and energy to any organization. Without it, museums run the risk of falling out of step with contemporary expectations, viewpoints, and methodologies. But the pace of change in those elements is accelerating. Adding to the challenge, it can sometimes be difficult for established professionals to see the degree or specific direction of change from inside the culture of the organization that employs them.

At the same time, there will always be a normal cycle of people leaving the profession for various reasons. These resources, of course, must be replaced. And ideally, the time to start thinking about that is well before the need arises. Recruiting should therefore be an ongoing process, in which the most promising talent is guided, familiarized, and nurtured to the point of readiness.

One of the most effective ways for museums to address these challenges is by building strong, long-term partnerships with universities. These institutions are a potent ecosystem of research, training, and progressive ideas. And, by their very nature, they create vast bodies of individuals seeking to apply what they’ve learned in real-world settings.

Complementing this are the many opportunities museums can potentially provide for experiential learning, training, and collaboration. This combination can make partnerships between museums and universities mutually beneficial while fostering the development of a robust pipeline of talent for museums.

In this article, we’ll explore some proven ways museums can effectively collaborate with academic institutions to identify and attract emerging professionals. By cooperatively initiating programs such as internships, mentorships, and research initiatives, museums can develop tomorrow’s workforce while adding significant capabilities to their current operations.

Here are some great ways to start:

Establish Powerful Internship Programs

Internships and fellowships are vital elements in the museum-university relationship. A well-thought-out, effectively implemented internship program can give students valuable hands-on experience beyond the classroom. Along with this, fellowships offer the possibility of deep involvement in museum projects of specific areas of interest, such as curatorial work, conservation, or education.

These opportunities should ideally align with the university’s course objectives, with credit given for participation. Structuring internships and fellowships in this way can provide additional motivation for students and help museums attract top candidates. Along with this, internships and fellowships should be created for maximum accessibility. For example, students from underserved backgrounds are often unable to participate in unpaid opportunities. Such barriers can be offset somewhat by offering stipends, scholarships, or housing assistance. This helps promote equity and attract a more diverse pool of participants.

To further this effort, fellowships can be targeted to underrepresented groups, or emerging fields such as digital engagement. Doing so can help align workforce development with wider strategic goals of diversity, equity, and innovation.

Facilitate Collaborative Research Projects

Museums typically have extensive collections, archives, and public programs. These are extremely valuable when it comes to academic research. By creating collaborative research programs with students and faculty, museums can access a rich source of scholarly expertise and advance their own collective knowledge. In return, universities gain access to a wealth of research material that can further their own efforts.

Such research collaborations can include co-authored publications, development of exhibitions, or collection-based studies. To maximize the visibility of these initiatives, research symposiums or student presentations can be hosted. In these events, university partners would share their findings with the museum staff and the public. Besides bringing greater attention to the museum and the university, such efforts would encourage greater dialogue between disciplines, boost academic engagement, and fortify the museum’s position as a center of knowledge.

Develop Mentorship and Networking Opportunities

Mentorship is a proven element of museum career development. Students can get invaluable benefits from the insight and guidance of experienced professionals as they offer an inside view of museum work, career paths, and industry challenges. Pairing students with museum staff members in structured mentorship programs provides highly beneficial exposure to the field in ways that simply can’t be duplicated in classrooms. This benefits both museum and university, and it can be one of the most effective ways to meet and attract promising candidates.

Along with this, museums should be a source of ongoing networking opportunities for students. By hosting networking events and career panels, museums can introduce students to a wide range of paths in museum careers. Such opportunities are an effective way to draw students to an organization, as they naturally seek the means of accessing their chosen career field and preparing their unique trajectory into it.

Mentorship and networking can be further expanded by inviting previous interns and fellows to share advice, job leads, and experiences with students. This not only makes greater use of these past participants’ experience, it also can serve to inspire and motivate current students who are considering the program or just starting in it.

Co-Design Educational Programs and Workshops

When museums and universities collaborate effectively, it can help close the gap between the knowledge gained in classes and the real-world application of it. This effect can be further heightened by co-creating workshops, short courses, certificate programs, and other cooperative educational programs. Such programs can be especially effective when they focus on topics only lightly covered in coursework. This is where museums have a unique opportunity to offer highly targeted microcredentials—short-term programs to build specific competencies that are valued in the job market.

Museums can effectively attract forward-thinking students by concentrating these programs on emerging topics such as sustainability in museum operations, digital curation, inclusive storytelling, and the use of AI. This not only helps students become more prepared to face the challenges of the future, it also positions the museum as progressive, visionary, and future-oriented.

Image Credit: Kampus Production.

Host Student-Centered Events and Exhibitions

Another great way to attract and engage students and faculty is by hosting events such as academic conferences, guest lectures, art shows, and panel discussions. These kinds of events can offer terrific opportunities for students to develop their professional skills, while at the same time fostering stronger ties between museums and universities.

One especially effective type of event is co-hosted exhibitions curated by students. These can be part of a capstone project or part of a museum studies course. Events such as these can give students a powerful platform for applying their knowledge and offer museums fresh perspectives and new interpretations of collections. These can be powerful recruitment tools that demonstrate to potential interns or fellows the kind of work that can be done within the institution. By immersing students in programming, interpretation, and visitor engagement, museums can provide nuanced learning experiences that effectively portray real-world work within the institution.

Integrate Service Learning and Community Engagement

Service-learning partnerships with universities can make a particularly strong impact in community education and outreach. Service learning gives students opportunities to apply academic knowledge to in-the-field projects that benefit museums and the public alike. These kinds of programs can potentially address a vast range of needs within the community. For instance, students could help design an exhibit for underserved communities, create educational materials for K-12 programs, or develop an outreach initiative to promote cultural inclusion.

Museums can further amplify these collaborations by teaming with disciplines other than traditional museum studies programs. By involving fields such as social work, education, public health, and communications, museums can access valuable perspectives that can yield tangible benefits throughout the organization.

Organize Career Development Events

One of the most effective ways for museums to identify and attract promising talent is by holding career events such as job fairs, informational interviews, and resume workshops. Students are highly responsive to these types of events, as they seek tools and insight that can help them in establishing their career.

Career panels can feature professionals from several museum disciplines to give students broad insight on potential roles. Beyond just learning the day-to-day work of each position, these sessions can also serve to break down some of the intimidation students may feel as they begin their career. Panel participants can be encouraged to share stories that humanize the work they do.

Ideally, these events should complement one another, with museums offering an ongoing range of career development functions for students. For example, museums can hold a career panel in the early fall, and then host a resume clinic soon after, followed by a job fair after that.

To maximize the recruitment value of career programs, museums should be sure to follow up and stay in touch with attendees. By building enduring connections with students, museums can share internship or fellowship openings and invite students to future events. This kind of engagement can be key to fostering a strong connection with promising candidates down the road.

Investing in the Future Workforce

Partnerships between museums and universities are essential for building a workforce that’s strong, diverse, and adaptive. At the same time, such collaborations are highly beneficial for everyone involved: museums access a steady source of fresh talent, energy, and academic rigor; students get hands-on experience, mentorship, and career development; and universities get expanded resources, additional credibility, and increased exposure in the community.

Along with this, the combination of effective internships, mentorships, educational programs, and collaborative projects can enhance how a museum is perceived. Such efforts can position museums as not just cultural institutions, but as forward-thinking organizations that are shaping the future of their profession.

By investing in long-term university partnerships, museums can not only serve their mission-driven aims of educating, engaging, and serving the public, they can also attract the talent needed to remain vibrant and relevant for generations to come.