INTERNATIONAL POLICY STATEMENT

Now that Europeanization, internationalisation and globalisation are more than just slogans, a common European educational system is becoming the prevailing reality.  Its wide variety of studies and teaching content make it particularly attractive.  Now, more so than ever, it is important that European educational institutions do their very best to cooperate with other institutions on national and international levels.  
Salzburg, founded in the 8th century and lying on an axis between northern and southern European regions, is geographically suited to lay the groundwork for a European cooperation.   

The idea of a geographically united Europe was present in Salzburg hundreds of years ago.  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the genius loci, left his hometown of Salzburg to visit cities like London, Paris, Milan, Naples and Prague and bring Salzburg’s music life into the international spotlight.  The following century saw an increase of music festivals in Salzburg, leading finally to the foundation of the Salzburg Festival in the 20th century. 
Contacts were created not only within Europe but also on an international level and cooperation in the area of fine arts intensified.  Diversity and internationality have played and continue to play an important role at the Mozarteum as well.  Students come from all over the world to study with internationally renowned artists, who in turn commit themselves to transmitting their knowledge and artistic skills to their students.

1. On a national level

• The University Mozarteum organizes student and teacher concerts and productions (solo concerts, orchestra and opera productions, theatre performances and exhibitions) and thereby extensively contributes to Salzburg’s cultural life.
• The orchestra concerts played by the Symphony Orchestra of the University Mozarteum during Salzburg’s Mozart Week offer opportunities for students aiming at an international career.  
• The Philharmonic Wind Orchestra was founded in 2001 and gave their first concert in June 2002.  Since then they have produced four CDs with renowned soloists Clemens Hagen (violoncello), Hans Gansch (trumpet), Thomas Riebl (viola), Christine Hoock (double bass), Rolf Plagge (piano) and Martin Grubinger (marimba).
• In winter semester 2005/06, the University Mozarteum began a joint program with the conservatory Feldkrich Vorarlberg and now organizes the exams taken and confirms the bachelors degrees earned there by students.

2. On an international level

The University Mozarteum broadly supports international relations

• through concert exchanges (inter-departmental exchanges between universities: for example,  between the department of stringed and plucked instruments at the University Mozarteum and the department of string instruments at the Music Academy Augsburg, which is not a partner in the Erasmus Program and would therefore not otherwise be able to participate in exchanges)
• through participation in guest courses, symposia and lectures
• through a week-long international meeting at the University Mozarteum
  Guest institutions gain a better insight into the education provided at the University Mozarteum and forge valuable alliances with one another, while the teachers and students of the Mozarteum gain new impressions.  Students are able to expand their horizons by exchanging ideas and experiences with partners from around Europe and even farther abroad.  By the same token, these experiences show students the value of their home institutions.
  In the academic year 2001/02 various music schools were invited to visit the Mozarteum, including the MusicAcademyZagreb, Franz Liszt Conservatory of Music from Budapest, the School of Music and Theatre Munich, the University Nürnberg, and the National Music Academy Kazakhstan.  The visit of the National Music Academy Kazakhstan proved particularly interesting when the Ensemble Horizon from the Mozarteum, which specialises in modern music, gave a guest concert in Kazakhstan in April 2002 in exchange.
  The following schools visited the Mozarteum in the academic year 2002/03: Music Academy Laibach, the Music Conservatory Giuseppe Verdi Milan, the Music Conservatory P.I. Tschaikowsky from Moscow and the Erasmus partner SibeliusAcademy from Helsinki.
  
• The Mozarteum annually takes part in the three-part concert series hosted at the Seeon monastery in Bavaria, and thus cultivates its contact with its direct neighbour Germany.
• The University Mozarteum has established a guest professorship of Poetics with the aim of cultivating relationships with contemporary composers and their modern music.Renowned visiting lecturers such as Franco Donatoni, Mauricio Kagel, Luciano Berio, Giya Kancheli, Hans Werner Henze, Helmut Lachenmann and, in 2002, Philipp Glass, keep the artistic and educational standards at a high level and improve international contacts.
• The University Mozarteum has had an on-going partnership for many years with the Academy for Music and Theatre in Munich, the “Franz Liszt” College in Weimar and the “Ernst Busch” College in Berlin..
• The University Mozarteum has gained a worldwide reputation through its SummerAcademy. 
  Every summer 60 master classes by international instructors take place throughout the city, offering young instrumentalists, singers, composers and actors from all over the world encouragement and insight.  Teachers at the SummerAcademyhave included Carl Orff, Gottfried von Einem, George Tabori, Herbert von Karajan, Alfred Schnittke, Mauricio Kagel, Walter Berry, Christa Ludwig, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Friedrich Gulda, Gidon Kremer, Yehudi Menuhin, Sandor Vegh, Ruggiero Ricci and Peter Ustinov.
  The international Mozart Competition is organized every third or fourth year, the last time in 2002, and aims at improving international cooperation and connections.  Talented young musicians from all over the world are invited to compare their skills in interpreting Mozart´s music and to perform in front of an international jury. 
  In Mozart Year 2006, the cooperation between the Mozarteum and the Salzburg Festival will be cemented by the opera production “Apoll und Hyacinth”.  An array of concerts entitled “Diologe”, or Dialogues, are in the planning and will be supported by the Mozarteum.

3. On the European level

The University Mozarteumhas made important contacts with different European institutions through the Erasmus Programsince 1995.   The number of exchanges between universities grows continuously.

• The involvement of the Mozarteum in the Erasmus Program has proven a great success as the constantly growing interest of incoming and outgoing students show, and the Mozarteum will continue to support this program in the future.  As part of the intensive cooperation, Austrian Exchange Service ÖAD has been a great help by offering accommodation to incoming students and teachers.
• The Mozarteum began an exchange program for teachers in 2001 and has worked with schools in the Netherlands, Estonia and Lithuania.  This exchange program has taken place every year due to the positive feedback the program has received and the opportunities it offers students and teachers alike to gain new knowledge and insight.
• As a part of the Erasmus Program, Mozarteum students have taken part in chamber orchestras, the Brass Forum (including the Brass Project in Utrecht in 2003,) and conducting courses.  Through these projects, the University Mozarteum and its students have been able to make new musical contacts and gain new knowledge. 
• We are sure that the Erasmus Program will remain popular. 
• Apart from the Erasmus-related projects, the Mozarteum participates in many other European projects, including Trumpet Days, Organ Days, early music festivals and electro-acoustic events highlighting computer music.

When partial legal capacity took effect on October 1st, 2000, a new student committee and student deans were elected.  In the following two years, the student committee and deans operated autonomously to develop a new curriculum in which there is more emphasis on an individual’s major.   The student deans were responsible for putting these new plans into practice in the most efficient and best way possible. The new plans were put into effect on October 1st, 2002, and follow international criteria.  Credits will be transferred following guidelines set up by the Erasmus Program.  
The new three-level degree program (bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree, as opposed to the former “diploma”,) makes it easier for universities to compare courses and transfer credits on an international level. 
With the beginning of their complete independent legal status as of January 1st, 2004, the universities were legally separated from the administrative apparatus of the state.  Connected with that was also the reorganization of instruction.
New contracts were drawn up and new financial principles were established. Quality-management, evaluation of teaching, and agreement on academic standards with the ministry are ultimately legally binding and determine the university budget.  The governing board, or university council, decides the operating budget of and the structure of each individual university. The University Mozarteum is dedicated to supporting all exchanges between students and teachers within the ERASMUS Program, and especially attaches great value to a common level of academic standards within Europe and internationally.   The exchange program aims not only to guarantee professional advancement for all outgoing and incoming students and teachers but also to guarantee that the education received abroad will be accredited by the home institute.   The University Mozarteum continues to award scholarships for artistic or academic projects abroad and to thereby support cooperative events and foster an exchange of experience.
Bilateral contracts for students and teacher exchanges have been drawn up with institutes in South Africa (Stellenbosch), China (Peking, Shanghai) and Japan (Tokyo, Nagoya), and the Mozarteum´s participation in networks (ASEA UNINET, EURASIA PACIFIC UNINET) and membership in AEC and ELIA provide opportunities for further constructive collaboration.
The Mozarteum can adjust to changing artistic requirements through evaluations and quality control both administratively and at the faculty level.  The continuing education of teachers is high on the agenda and teachers are offered new experiences and insights through guest lectures, exchange possibilities (visiting lectureships) and the opportunities to attend international symposia and seminars. 
The Mozarteum supports artistic and academic projects abroad with money from the “foreign fund”.
The quality of education and individual lessons are guaranteed by the internationally respected artists who teach at the Mozarteum.  In order to maintain a high artistic level at the Mozarteum, it is our goal to attract pedagogues of the highest artistic and cultural levels to our university.  
Quality management was established in order to guarantee the quality of education at the Mozarteum.  The participation in the Bologna Process is an important criterion of the quality management program. 
Artistic achievements will now also be assessed financially in order to facilitate comparison with other institutions. Areas of emphasis will increasingly gain in importance.  The Mozarteum aims at not only educating students, but also at helping to secure them a place in social or cultural life.  In this regard, the activities of the teachers outside the university are very helpful in establishing contacts and finding job opportunities for students.
The degree program at the University Mozarteum requires an entrance exam in which artistic abilities and skills are judged.  High artistic requirements for incoming students guarantee a high quality of education, which make it possible for our graduates to enjoy international careers in artistic, pedagogic and academic fields.
In order to be exempt from the entrance exam, incoming students must send a CD, video, or tape giving an example of their expertise.  A jury of teachers in the students´ field evaluates their audition recording. 
The Mozarteum compares well with international universities and offers courses compatible with international standards.  Moreover, the Mozarteum compares favourably due to the difficult entrance and degree examinations and the intensive lessons offered in all majors.
The new three-level degree program (bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree) enables a more flexible curriculum and guarantees uniform European education standards. 
The syllabi are currently being translated into English.  These transcripts will enable easy access to the majors offered as well as making it easier to transfer ECTS-points and to cooperate with other schools in Europe and farther abroad. 
Female and male students have been treated equally at the Mozarteum since the school was founded, and the high number of international students shows the open-mindedness of our staff and students and the utter lack of prejudice found at our school. 
Main objectives of the Mozarteum will continue to be exchanges that are part of the ERASMUS Program, international exchanges of students and teachers, scholarships for students and teachers involved in artistic or academic projects abroad, participation in European networks of fine arts universities such as ERASMUS-SOCRATES, AEC, and ELIA, international cooperation within ASEA-UNINET and EURASIA PACIFIC UNINET as well as bilateral partnerships (China, Japan, South Africa) and cultural agreements.