The students, in pairs or alone according to their choice, must write a paper in which they elaborate their own project for a fictitious museum with international visibility. This museum project, like the new museums in the Gulf that were the subject of the course, must become a source of economic diversification and the development of cultural diplomacy.
Students are given a detailed fictional starting question that may, for example, present the advisory needs of a fictional emir wishing to develop a museum. Based on the theory studied in class, the said museum must distinguish itself from the museums with international visibility already present in the region by proposing novelties in terms of collections, activities, marketing, communication, solutions to the health crisis, etc. It must also elaborate innovative strategies for the development of the museum. It must also develop innovative strategies in terms of cultural diplomacy.
In doing so, students are asked to reflect on the mechanisms that govern diplomatic relations and geopolitical and economic dynamics in the Middle East region and to see the importance that cultural and soft power institutions can have in these, if they meet certain criteria.
This evaluation method allows the student not only to assimilate the course material, but also to appropriate it in an active and personalized way.
