NATIONAL MUSEUM INSTITUTE OF HISTORY OF ART, CONSERVATION AND MUSEOLOGY JANPATH, New Delhi

About the Institute

The National Museum Institute of the History of Art, Conservation and Museology was formed and registered on January 27, 1989 under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and was accorded the status of 'Deemed to be University' on April 28, 1989. Since its inception, the Institute has been one of the leading centres in the country for training and research in the field of art and cultural heritage.

The Institute is situated within the premise of the National Museum with an objective that students can have direct exposure to the masterpieces of art and cultural heritage and have easy access to the facilities of the National Museum such as its laboratory, library, storage/reserve collection and technical support sections for a holistic learning. The Institute also collaborates with the institutions like Archaeological Survey of India, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, National Gallery of Modern Art, National Archives of India, Lalit Kala Academy etc. in order to have access to cultural property of all kinds, curatorial expertise and teaching staff and facilities of laboratories, libraries, workshops etc. Thus the students have access to a vast repertoire of resources for study in order to help in carrying out original and innovative research.

The Institute continuously endeavours to meet challenges in art and heritage education and to promote creativity and engagement in higher education. It is committed to introduce best practices in teaching and research through networking and partnerships with universities, museums, laboratories and libraries in India and abroad. The Institute strives to identify new areas of research and teaching that can also make art and culture an organised industry for employment in the globally changing environment.

Postgraduate Teaching and Research

The Institute mainly offers M.A. and Ph.D. courses in the disciplines of History of Art, Conservation and Museology. The mode of learning at the Institute is not only limited to the classroom teaching and also includes practical demonstrations introducing students to the galleries, storage/reserve collections and laboratories of the National Museum. As a part of practical training, on-site visits, demonstrations, lectures to other museums, monuments, academies and universities are arranged. An integral part of the teaching structure is to give students first hand experience, expose them to new and innovative ideas and encourage them to participate in forums that have vital and far-reaching outcomes. The students get opportunities to interact with professionals who are well trained and established in their respective fields. The Institute has also entered in agreement with institutions in India and abroad to organise training programmes, seminars, symposia, workshops etc. with an aim to increase awareness and to facilitate interaction of experts from a range of disciplines. The students are always encouraged to take active part in these forums. The institute also lays emphasis on the knowledge of foreign or classical languages to aid study/research.

Research has always been at the core of the activities of the Institute and a wide range of inter-disciplinary research has been produced at the Institute in the discipline of History of Art, Conservation and Museology. Through a rigorous selection procedure that includes entrance test and interview, a limited number of students are enrolled each year for M.A and PhD programmes. The students are encouraged to identify areas to create innovative and novel research. Lectures of distinguished scholars from India and abroad, national and international workshops, seminars, exhibitions, conferences and symposium are periodically organised to foster research at the Institute. A significant number of students receive funding from prestigious organisations such as Indian Council for Historical Research (ICHR), University Grants Commission (UGC), the Nehru Memorial Trust etc. for their study/research work.\

Public Courses

The Institute conducts certificate courses for general public to help them learn about the landmarks of the Indian art history and to create awareness about art and cultural heritage. Currently there are three certificate courses – Art Appreciation, India Art and Culture and Bhartiya Kala Nidhi (Hindi). These courses incorporate landmarks of Indian art history from antiquity to the present along with some aspects of western art and Far Eastern Art.

International Students

The Institute has attracted so far a number of International students from countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, South Korea, Japan, UK, France, China, Iran, Israel, Thailand, Canada and USA. The International research scholars primarily come through ICCR. We have also affiliated students through Fulbright, Commonwealth scholarship programme etc. among many others.

Scholarship and Internships

The Institute awards eight merit scholarships to its M.A. students (six merit scholarships and two merit-cum-means scholarships). The aim is to reward deserving candidates in their education regardless of their social and economical status and to provide financial assistance to those in need.

To provide its postgraduate students a comprehensive understanding of their research interests NMI provides paid internships to its students. The students can work in any museum or institution in the country, which caters towards the completion of their research papers and dissertation.

Funding for Presenting Paper at the International conference of ICOM-CC

NMI generated a corpus of approximately INR 69,000,00 through the 15th triennial conference of ICOM-CC held in 2008. The money has been deposited in the account of NMI. The interest accrued from the deposit will be utilised for giving travel grant to two students to attend ICOM-CC conferences if their papers will be selected for presentation.

Resources

Apart from the resources of the National Museum such as artefacts, library, laboratory etc, which are available to the students, the Institute has its own teaching and research facilities. The Institute’s library contains approximately 6000 books on Art History, Museology and Conservation. The library also contains about 67,000 slides covering a wide range of subjects from painting, sculpture, architecture to illuminated manuscripts prints and decorative arts from India South East Asia, Asia Pacific, Central Asia, Egypt and Mesopotamia and Europe. The library is fully automated with New Generation Library Management Software. For the benefit of its users the library has facilities like computer cluster connected to a Local Area Network that gives access to JSTORE online journal repository, the library software and also internet facilities through National Knowledge Network – a state-of-the-art multi-gigabit pan-India network for providing a unified high speed network backbone for all knowledge related institutions in the country. It also provides facilities like photocopying, scanning and printing in black and white and colour at nominal charges. A conservation science laboratory is being developed at the Institute to foster scientific research in art and cultural heritage conservation.

Campus at Noida

A new campus of the Institute is being constructed in the Institutional area in Sector 62, Noida. The land measuring 12000 Sq. meters was acquired in the year 2002 and CPWD has submitted an estimate for construction of the building, which has been recommended by the Standing Finance Committee and approved by the Hon’ble Cabinet Minister for Culture, Government of India. This year the Institute is celebrating its Silver Jubilee and it would be a prudent occasion for the laying of the Foundation Stone of the proposed campus by the Hon’ble Cabinet Minister for Culture.

Alumni

The Institute is proud to produce some of the most talented academicians, museum practitioner, conservators, curators and researcher in the field of Art History, Conservation and Museology. Many of them are recipients of prestigious national and international fellowships and awards. The alumni of this Institute are making a difference not only at the national and international levels but also at the grassroots levels, training hundreds of students in various parts of the country in the field of documentation, preservation and interpretation of the tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

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