Joining Hands to Develop Strategies for the Future of Music and Arts Universities in Europe
Since January 2024, the mdw has been working together with seven European partner universities on IN.TUNE – Innovative Universities in Music and Art in Europe, the first European Universities Alliance in the field of music and one of only two alliances of arts universities among the 64 EUAs currently in existence.
The objective of this alliance is to develop a general framework for cooperation as well as common strategies in the areas of Joint Education Provision & Mobility, Research & Innovation, Societal Engagement, and Alliance Governance & Cooperation. While this may sound quite dry at first blush, it is of very concrete relevance to the most varied areas with which all mdw staff deal on a daily basis—where they can now join hands with all other partners in contemplating questions like: How about developing an innovative programme of study together with colleagues from, say, Paris, Barcelona, and Belgrade? And how might such a programme be organised in a way that’s straightforward and sustainable even from the perspective of mobility? What common developmental possibilities are there in, say, the realm of artistic research? Are there administrative areas for which further training options could be jointly offered? How do partner institutions’ strategies in terms of gender equality and diversity look, what does the mdw have to offer, and where do we see things we’d want to emulate?
These initial four years represent a pilot phase that provides the mdw with an opportunity to join our partner universities in gathering and analysing offerings, identifying areas that could be driven forward together, and initiating test runs. Ultimately, we will have tried out lots of things and developed strategies in the most varied areas. This will help to strengthen the participating universities as well as all music and arts universities in Europe in the interest of being able to meet future challenges with concepts suited to the times.
“To this end, we sought out partners with whom we’d already shared many years of good and intensive work in contexts such as the European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA) and regular orchestral projects,” states Vice Rector Johannes Meissl. “These institutions then invited their own European partners into the project, so what we now see working together here is a Europe-wide alliance of outstanding universities of music.”
Even just in these initial months, the alliance has already been quite active indeed—hammering out the structures for decision-making and working in detail, negotiating a common budget and budgetary principles, and formulating a consortium agreement. These foundational documents were ratified in mid-June at an initial meeting of the IN.TUNE Governing Board in Oslo, with the Consortium Agreement—which governs cooperation over the coming four years and beyond—signed by the rectors of the eight partner institutions. Around 40 representatives of the respective universities (rectors, vice rectors, student representatives, the eight institutional alliance managers, and the alliance’s management team) came together in various constellations to discuss the visions and goals of the alliance and were pleased with the positive and constructive atmosphere.
The substantive work (“work packages”) of the eight Work Package Committees, each of which is led by one partner institution, has also picked up considerable steam since the early part of this year. The mdw has taken the lead on Work Package 6, “Strengthening our engagement with society”, with Vice Rector Gerda Müller responsible for its implementation as the committee chair: “In a period of great global challenges, arts universities must engage above all at the societal level. We can serve as role models for how institutions can actually live values such as diversity, pluralism, equality, democracy, and solidarity. And we must also support our students in becoming critical and reflected artists, educators, and academics who are willing and able to shape change.”
As part of the various work packages, calls for active participation in all of these developmental processes are being released on a continual basis and can be found on the websites of both IN.TUNE and the mdw—and Veronika Leiner, who serves as the first point of contact at the mdw concerning the alliance as its Institutional Alliance Manager, is there to address questions on these things and more: “All ideas and suggestions pertaining to the alliance are very welcome!”
Calls for Participation:
mdw.ac.at/intune
intune-alliance.eu
