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 University Mozarteum Salzburg sees international mobility as a natural part of university life. Mobility experiences and stays abroad enable students, young researchers and teachers as well as non-academic staff to gain additional knowledge and competencies.
The University Mozarteum Salzburg is therefore very concerned 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+ program generation will help the University Mozarteum Salzburg to create new incentives for participation in Erasmus+ mobilities (e.g. also for disadvantaged people). By introducing "blended mobility" and short-term mobilities, working students will also have the opportunity to gain experience abroad. This makes it possible to increase student mobility at the University Mozarteum Salzburg.
Internationalization strategy in relation to Erasmus+
Internationalization at the University Mozarteum Salzburg is already very well developed. The more than 2000 students come from five continents and about 70 countries. The approximately 550 teaching staff also represent a far-reaching internationality with a total of 38 different nationalities from three continents. The University Mozarteum 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 University Mozarteum 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), has gained a firm place 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. In System Goal 6 of the GUEP 2022-2027 as well as in Chapter VI. of the Development Plan 2022-2027 of the University Mozarteum Salzburg, the perspectives and strategic orientations of internationalization are presented in detail.
Closely intertwined with the development planning, the University Mozarteum Salzburg has elaborated the following six objectives for its internationalization 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
- Internationalization at home
The ERASMUS+ program contributes to the realization of these objectives. Especially the topic of mobility, but also the topics "Dialogue of Cultures" and "Internationalization at Home" experience an additional strengthening through the program, since mobility - as a bilateral exchange with partner institutions - also promotes internationalization 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 program activities
- creating incentives for the participation of disadvantaged people
- implementing the program's digitization 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"