This international master's degree course in English is dedicated to students who have obtained a Bachelor's Degree in the humanities and who wish to acquire IT skills to operate with digital technologies for the knowledge and enhancement of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, with particular reference to the promotion of cultural heritage and the management of related collections (museums, archives, libraries).
The course takes into account the training experience gained within the international Master's "EuroMACHS", with the Universities of Coimbra, Köln, Turku, Graz awarded in 2009 in the sector "Creativity and Innovation: Best practices from EU", the Euromachs master's degree started in 2015 and the subsequent degree in Digital Humanities from 2020. In its new configuration, in compliance with the PNNR Project "Patto Territoriale Sistema Universitario Pugliese", the course adapts the training profiles to the current needs of the management and promotion strategies of cultural heritage, enhancing technological skills for a correct use also for the purposes of cultural tourism and for use in the cultural and creative industry, with a solid interaction with the entrepreneurial fabric of the territory.
Specifically, the integration between the knowledge of the European and Mediterranean cultural heritage and the current developments in the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) sectors is promoted, to train experts able to operate in the Information Society and to master its contents and practical applications, both in the public and private sectors. The course also develops an approach to security, privacy and data protection relating to the use of new digital technologies, in line with the hopes formulated by the European Union for a confident and human-centric development and use of cyberspace. (see PNNR Project “Patto Territoriale Sistema Universitario Pugliese” cd “Patti Territoriali”, p. 81).

Admission methods: Access to the course is open to students coming from humanistic training paths, through an initial assessment (interview) that evaluates the skills previously acquired in relation to the main disciplinary areas that deal with studies on cultural heritage. Language skills in English are also assessed, while specific skills in the IT field are not required.
With regard to employment opportunities, it should be considered that the need for professional figures with expertise in IT applications specifically dedicated to cultural heritage is very present in the institutional and professional fields responsible for the knowledge, valorization and communication of Cultural Heritage, both at Italian and European level. These areas - represented by Museums, Collections, Libraries and Archives both public and private, cultural and creative enterprises, public bodies and private foundations as well as companies operating in the field of cultural and tourist services with particular reference to the communication and use of tangible and intangible heritage - constitute the main employment and professional opportunities for graduates in Digital Heritage, in line with what characterizes the degree courses in the same class more generally. Graduates will be able to carry out highly responsible roles in the field of digital management of cultural heritage (archives, libraries, museums, public and private collections). The opportunities for professional placement in these areas are also well demonstrated by the data relating to the employment of graduates in this degree class (see Alma laurea report).

The training course is divided into two years. In the first year, it includes a block of training activities in the IT field selected from those that can provide the student with basic skills in the field of designing digital resources for the treatment of descriptive data (Database Design) and for the implementation of web applications on various devices (Mobile application development and Web technologies). The humanities courses instead provide a knowledge framework of the methodologies for managing and processing data relating to cultural heritage with reference to the complex world of cataloguing and strategies for promoting, enhancing and disseminating cultural heritage (Digital Management of Archaeological Data, Digital Dissemination, Digital methods in Landscape Archaeology, Cataloguing Methods, Digital Treatment of Historical Archives). These courses aim to promote an interdisciplinary education that allows the student to combine knowledge of profoundly different origins, integrating them autonomously and consciously. Training activities in the design field are also planned that allow the student to acquire skills in the management and entrepreneurial field (Innovative Project Management). The first year also includes internships at companies and institutions operating in the sector and laboratories aimed at cultivating specific areas such as 3D restitutions and artificial intelligence applied to cultural heritage.
The second year includes training activities in the IT field aimed at deepening the knowledge of advanced technologies: Virtual and Augmented Reality Applications, Digital environment for Heritage fruition (3D, gaming, etc.). The humanities courses are aimed at broadening the knowledge framework already provided in the first year on the one hand (Ancient Manuscripts in Digital Culture and Italian language in digital world), and on the other to acquire advanced skills in sectors of significant interest for cultural heritage such as Geographic Information Systems and methodologies for the treatment of historical artistic assets, including virtual restoration (GIS Application in Cultural Heritage and Digital Treatment for Fine Arts Data Collection). Finally, the training activities in the legal sector (aimed at understanding the legal problems inherent to the digital field) and the final exam complete the path.
The activation of this Degree Course is motivated by the need to create new profiles that we can define as “soft-STEM” starting from graduates in non-STEM disciplines: the Digital Heritage course is part of that group of master's degree courses aimed at students with a three-year degree in humanistic disciplines and oriented above all towards the development of skills in the ICT world, which exclude the more specifically engineering aspects. This profile does not include skills relating to the software development of applications and those related to the management of ICT infrastructures, while those relating to the design, customization and management of ICT platforms and tools used in typical contexts of the humanistic disciplines do. The goal is not only to be able to master ICT technologies but to be able to enhance previous humanistic knowledge through the lens of information and communication technologies, integrating the two perspectives. This type of training path allows to significantly expand the traditional professional placement opportunities of graduates in the humanities, until now mainly confined to teaching and the public sector. The demands coming from a territory and from a business fabric in which the use of cultural heritage with the related touristic repercussions, represents an important economic element, as shown by the consultations with the social partners, are now mature.
The elements that distinguish the training profile of this course allow the expert in digital technologies applied to Cultural Heritage to operate in different areas: from the creation of communication and dissemination systems of knowledge relating to historical contexts, to the creation of databases for the archiving and computerized management of knowledge relating to Cultural Heritage, to the analysis of textual documents, to specialist consultancy for the creation of digital products, to applications in the field of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence.
The laboratories are oriented towards application activities of particular interest for the knowledge, documentation and use of cultural heritage, such as GIS and HBIM systems, gaming applications, including video games with a historical background. The internship activities will involve institutions and businesses, companies, and firms with consolidated experience in the sector, starting from those involved in the process of consulting the social partners activated in the design phase of the Degree Course.
The international nature of the course is first of all inherent in the choice to adopt English as the language, a choice that will also allow international students to access the training path more easily. Exchanges with the European and international university world in which similar courses are present is favored by the wide network of relationships activated by Unisalento in the context of Erasmus projects, as well as by the relationships activated in the previous versions of the LM-43 at the University (Euromachs and Digital Humanities course). Students will be able to spend periods abroad in the context of Erasmus exchange projects with foreign universities in which similar courses are activated (reference is made, for example, to the University of Coimbra). However, no specific agreements with foreign universities are foreseen, since the Course does not currently provide for the awarding of a double or multiple degree.
A possible continuation in the third level of training (PhD, Specialization Schools) represents a concrete prospect both in relation to the doctoral course established in the Department of Cultural Heritage and in relation to the National Doctorate in Heritage Science, to which the Department adheres as a partner, as well as more generally to other Italian and international doctorates in the humanities.
During the “Digital Heritage” course of studies, structures, knowledge and skills developed in the various sectors by the University of Salento may be enhanced, taking into account the requests coming from the local and national social and entrepreneurial fabric, and in the interest of enhancing these skills, making them centers of excellence for the development of the territory.