Culture that Takes a Stand

We are committed to democratic values, equal treatment, and diversity. In the same spirit, we value open communication, transparency, and participation for the further development of the university. We stand for gender equality and inclusion. [from the mdw’s Mission Statement]

The Diversitas Prize

It was in 2016 that the mdw first received this diversity management prize, which is awarded by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMWFW) (then the Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy [BMWFW]). Back then, the University received one of five cash prizes (worth € 25,000 each) for its project “All-Stars Inclusive – The Inclusive Band of the mdw”, in existence since 2010. This mdw project was initiated by the instructor Helga Zugasty at the Department of Music Education Research, Music Didactics and Elementary Music Education; its artistic direction was seen to by Marlene Lacherstorfer, and Beate Hennenberg pursues research on the topic.

In 2020, the mdw won a second Diversitas Prize for its Diversity Strategy, which had been developed in a participative manner. With the mdw Diversity Strategy as a strategic, change-promoting process, our institution has made a commitment to holistic and systematic diversity management that attempts to involve the greatest possible number of students and employees. The objective is to create a discrimination-free atmosphere in which to study and work.

The following measures have already been or are in the process of being implemented:

• Introduction of a “checkbox” (entry field) via which to request alternative methods for entrance examinations
• A process via which to anchor gender- and diversity-relevant skills in programme qualification profiles and curricular course offerings
• Production of a set of guidelines on gender- and diversity-sensitive didactics
• Conception and realisation of a “Diversity Day”
• Implementation of a “buddy programme” for international first-semester students with a focus on training the buddies with regard to gender-sensitivity and transcultural competence.
• Implementation of career guidance programmes for researchers and artists

For further information:

To the press release regarding the Diversitas Prize
Diversity Strategy video at the mdwMediathek
Information on the Diversitas Prize at the federal ministry website
Opinion of the jury regarding the 2020 Diversitas Prize (presented by Lisa K. Horvath)

 

Inclusive Projects

“Ohrenklang” – Artistic Creativity in an Inclusive, Interdisciplinary Context

Organiser: Department of Music and Movement Education / Rhythmics and Music Physiology
Project head: Mag. Christoph Falschlunger BEd

 

From the mission statement of the mdw Diversity Strategy:

The mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna stands for a culture of diversity and esteem in all its areas of activity, from the diversity of artistic and cultural forms of expression to equal opportunities and antidiscrimination.

All members of the mdw community should be able to engage in successful study and work regardless of their social and geo-cultural educational and experiential backgrounds, their forms of sexual desire and gender identification, their generational belonging and ages, their own self-images and worldviews, their individual physical and psychological disabilities, and/or their involvement in caring for other individuals. […]

Striving to create a discrimination-free and equality-oriented studying and working environment requires the equitable sharing of all mdw community members in responsibility, information, and access to resources. In order to do justice to this concern, the mdw’s Diversity Strategy entails efforts on the part of the University to expose cases of institutionalised and body-related discrimination, to promote an emancipatory understanding of diversity, and to create manifold spaces of reflection and action in the interest of an esteeming and collegial environment.

By setting up specific contact points concerned with organisational development and antidiscrimination as well as projects and initiatives in the areas of research, teaching, and practice at the mdw, a stand has now been taken for equitable and inclusive collaboration. At the same time, the mdw is also engaged in efforts to bring this idea to bear in its domestic and international cooperative arrangements. The Diversity Strategy’s development and implementation is intended to expand upon the vision of a violence-, discrimination-, and barrier-free university at all levels and realise it via concrete measures.