Even though it is not a common degree, archaeology has started to become more and more popular amongst students from all over the world.
Archaeology degrees are designed to give students a wider perspective about human society throughout time, whether we talk about culture, history, or ways of life in the past.
Undoubtedly, Archaeology is a challenging degree, due to the fact that it is based on cross-disciplinary research. Thus, any student will develop various skills such as surveying, data analysis and textual criticism.
The advantage of an Archaeology course is that you are highly employable for this industry. This field, as compared to others, does not have enough human resources to meet the market’s needs. Consequently, graduates from this degree are the perfect candidates.
Additionally, archaeology graduates are equipped with transferable skills. More precisely, the skills gained during the degree can be applied to a variety of careers. One example can be business and management, an area which emphasises critical thinking, analytical and practical skills, and the ability to work in a team. These are just a few of the competencies gained from an archaeology degree.
Therefore, graduates from this field are highly sought after for their skills which can be applied not only in Archaeology but also in other specialities.
Archaeology courses are three-year commitments, although there are many institutions which now include a fourth year of studies. It can be offered either as a Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Bachelor of Sciences (BSc) degree.
If you choose Archaeology as part of a BA, it is likely to focus more on humanities. In contrast, a BSc will give you a science-oriented perspective. Regardless of your choice, you should keep in mind that the course is a combination of arts and sciences.
Lastly, every Archaeology course requires fieldwork. Some universities might even offer you the chance to conduct excavations in countries like Egypt or Greece.
First, I’ve got to clarify that my review is specifically for the Conservation of Architectural Heritage Master’s Degree (in the ETSA college) where I took the (Heritage) Management track. The first semester was relatively formative and I had some decent professors (two of which were fantastic), but the second semester where we started our tracks/specialties was a total waste of time, money and energy. I stressed out over projects I had no guidance (emails to professors would sit unanswered for weeks) or instructions on, took 6-hourlong classes about professors’ personal projects without any sort of learning experience on the processes and methodologies of those projects, had professors show up 30 minutes late because they had to “brush their teeth” and received more feedback about the types of bullet points I was using and the background color of my presentations than the content of my work. Not to mention that half of our class was from Latin America and, in 6 classes and 4 12-hourlong seminars, no one could be bothered to “internationalize” the panels. I can’t believe I invested time and money to move to Valencia for this experience.
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