Abstract

This paper will focus on the intimate relationships between cultural heritage and higher education institutions and on how to improve and strenghten these connections so as to meet the new needs of cultural heritage, at the same time allowing higher education institutions to fully fulfill their role, as creators of human capital. Of all the categories of cultural heritage, museums are among the ones that can most implement these relationships. Indeed, museums and higher education institutions share similar values and goals. Not surprisingly, over the last decades a lot of example of collaborations between them have florisched all over the world and also in Italy, where however they still have an episodic and unstable character. To strengthen these relatioships system policies and procedures therefore seem necessary.