International Relations

In times when Europeanisation, internationalisation and globalisation are more than just buzzwords, and a common European educational area with a broad range of courses and teaching content is increasingly becoming a reality, educational institutions are tasked with supporting and further expanding cooperation at both national and international level. The geographical location of the city of Salzburg places it at the intersection of north to south, and trade routes - suggesting the cultivation of contacts througout Europe - can be traced back historically to the 8th century.

The idea of connecting Europe has a centuries-old tradition in Salzburg. W.A. Mozart travelled from his home to cities such as London, Paris, Milan, Naples and Prague, thus giving Salzburg's musical life a European dimension, which was continued in the century after his death by music festivals held in loose succession and reached a new dimension with the founding of the Salzburg Festival in the 20th century. Salzburg has thus long been open to pan-European and international cultural exchange, a trend that has become every stronger over the decades and in recent years.

Internationality has also always played a significant role in the history of the Mozarteum University. Gifted young musicians of many different nationalities take advantage of the opportunity to study an institution that counts renowned artistic personalities from all over the world among its faculty. They are keen to share their skills and art with their protégés and, through their own commitment and worldwide activities as artists, educators or jurors, contribute significantly to furthering contact and cultural exchange with European and international institutions, fulfilling the mission of cooperation both within and outside the Erasmus+ programme.

• Erasmus+ Charter for Higher Education

Mobility is an inherent theme and characteristic within the world of music and art, the importance of which manifests itself in numerous fields of action of the university. The Mozarteum University Salzburg sees international mobility as a natural part of university life. Mobility experiences and studying abroad enable students, young researchers, teachers and non-academic staff to gain additional knowledge and competencies. 

The University Mozarteum Salzburg is therefore very keen to consciously motivate students and teachers to participate in various mobility projects in order to make a stay abroad the norm. The Erasmus+ program enables our institution to cooperate with many European partners in the field of student and faculty mobility, which would not be possible to this extent without EU support. All students (regardless of social and economic background) should have access to quality education.

The new Erasmus+ programme generation will help the Mozarteum University Salzburg to create new incentives for participation in Erasmus+ mobilities (e.g. also for disadvantaged people). With the introduction of "blended mobility" and short-term mobilities, students who work alongside their studies to supplement their income will also have the opportunity to gain experience abroad. This opens up student mobility to an even wider target group at the Mozarteum University Salzburg.

Internationalisation strategy in relation to Erasmus+

Internationalisation at the Mozarteum University Salzburg is already very well developed. The 2000 or so students currently enrolled at the university come from five continents and around 70 countries. The approximately 550 teaching staff also come from a wide range of international backgrounds, with 38 different nationalities and three continents represented. The Mozarteum University Salzburg has risen from 32nd to 11th place in the international subject-related "QS World University Ranking" in the performance agreement period 2019-2021 (in 2018 it was still in 52nd place). Through numerous measures, it strives to continuously improve its international standing. For example, the International Summer Academy of the Mozarteum University Salzburg has earned a globally visible international reputation in its more than 100-year history, which is reflected in the high number of highly talented foreign applicants every year. The International Mozart Competition, which takes place every two years and whose final concert is regularly streamed by the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF), is firmly established in the league of top-class international music competitions.

In recent years, the Mozarteum University Salzburg has greatly increased its involvement in the relevant international networks and thus also assumes responsibility for the international shaping of the tertiary education sector in the field of the arts. Furthermore, the Development Plan 2022-2027 foresees the implementation of several international studies in order to further develop internationality in the field of teaching as well. The perspectives and strategic orientations of internationalisation are presented in detail in System Goal 6 of the GUEP 2022-2027, as well as in Chapter VI of the Development Plan 2022-2027 of the Mozarteum University Salzburg, 

Closely intertwined with the development planning, the Mozarteum University Salzburg has formulated the following six objectives for its internationalisation strategy:

• International visibility and profiling of the university as a whole
• Further development of study formats
• Perception, discourse and co-design of international quality standards in research, EEK and teaching
• Mobility as a broadening of the horizon of experience for students and teachers
• Dialogue of cultures
• Internationalisation at home

The ERASMUS+ programme contributes to the realisation of these objectives. The topic of mobility in particular, but also the initiatives "Dialogue of Cultures" and "Internationalisation at Home" have experienced an additional strengthening through the programme, since mobility - as a bilateral exchange with partner institutions - also promotes internationalisation on site. 

The Mozarteum University Salzburg would like to participate in the Erasmus Key Action 1 (KA1) - Learning Mobility. Known forms of mobility are to be continued and intensified as usual (study visits, Erasmus+ teacher mobilities and staff mobilities). The procedures are to be further digitalized step by step through the introduction of the Online Learning Agreement and the European Student Card. Through the new Erasmus generation, the University Mozarteum Salzburg can also further expand its existing cooperation projects with worldwide partners and launch new projects. 

The University Mozarteum Salzburg aims to implement the priorities of the new program by: 

• promoting environmentally friendly methods in all programme activities
• creating incentives for the participation of disadvantaged people
• implementing the program's digitisation measures
• promoting civic engagement before, during and after the stay

Goals and objectives

The University Mozarteum Salzburg has set the following mobility goals for the performance agreement period 2022-2024:

• Increase the number of regular students with participation in an international mobility program (outgoing students) as well as
• increase the number of regular students with participation in international mobility programs (incoming students)

In addition, short student mobilities are to be supported through the introduction of the Blended Intensive Programs in order to increase student mobilities at the university and to enable students to gain the important learning experiences abroad also through short stays. Through regular evaluation of the mobilities (student as well as staff mobilities), the quality of the mobility will be reviewed. The partnerships of the University Mozarteum will also continue to be evaluated regularly. An example of a concretely planned project in the area of mobility in the performance agreement period 2022-2024 is a project on artistic work in "being on the road" with the incentive of a travel grant including network support and presentation at an international Bob Dylan Symposium, which was implemented for the first time in 2022.  To support and promote mobility, the International Affairs Department was strengthened and reorganized in 2021. The expansion of the regional mapping project to the area of international cooperation planned for the performance agreement period 2022-2024 is intended to support the servicing and orientation of mobility as well as the quality of international cooperation. 

A project also supporting the area of mobility in the performance agreement period 2022-2024 is the planned relaunch of the website of the University Mozarteum Salzburg. This will be accompanied by a redesign of the "International Affairs" section, so that the information offered to students and teachers on mobility and exchange programs will be made more intuitively accessible.another objective in this performance agreement period is to promote the internationalization of teacher education and to increase the mobility of teacher educators.

In addition, the development plan 2022-2027 formulates as a major concern the conception of structural measures to promote project-related student mobility beyond ERASMUS. Further topics mentioned in this context are the development of mobility windows, the structural anchoring of cooperations, the special case of Brexit in the context of university mobility, and the quality management of international activities. In relation to the objective of "internationalization at home", the following measures at the study location are also formulated in the Development Plan 2022-2027 and in the Performance Agreement 2022-2024:

• Deepening the repertoire of a particular culture
• Multilingualism in performances
• Maintaining contact with consulates and embassies, arranging students for performances in order to realize joint cultural programs
• Special teaching offers and access to research results, e.g. in the research field "Music and Migration"

The Mozarteum University is a member of the following networks and organizations: 

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• AEC - Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen
• Erasmus+ - Bildungsprogramm der Europäischen Union
• Nationalagentur Erasmus+ Bildung
• Bologna-Prozess
• ELIA - The European League of Institutes of the Arts
• EUA - European University Association
• Forum Internationales der Österreichischen Universitätenkonferenz
• OeAD - Österreichische Agentur für internationale Mobilität und Kooperation in Bildung, Wissenschaft und Forschung
• ASEA-UNINET - ASEAN-European Academic University Network
• EURASIA PACIFIC UNINET
• Mitos21
• E:UTSA
• European Platform for Artistic Research in Music (EPARM)
• European Textile Network (ETN)
• Salzburger Hochschulkonferenz (SHK)