International

The Danish National Academy of Music actively participates in several networks with a view to increased internationalisation and support for teacher and student mobility.

ERASMUS+

The Erasmus + programme is an exchange collaboration between higher education institutions in 31 European countries. It is a precondition that the institutions have an Erasmus+ University Charter. (https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/about_da)

NORDPLUS

NORDPLUS is a Nordic-Baltic collaboration under the Nordic Council of Ministers. The programme aims to support and increase the exchange of teachers and students between universities, colleges and other institutions with post-upper secondary programmes in the Nordic countries. (http://www.nordplusmusic.net/)

AEC

The Association Européenne des Conservatoires is an interest organisation for primarily European academies of music. the Danish National Academy of Music is an active participant in both the annual congresses of principals and at meetings of international coordinators (IRC). (https://www.aec-music.eu/)

ANMA

The Association of Nordic Music Academies is a Nordic forum consisting of academy of music principals and management representatives. ANMA works with, among other things, political issues in relation to higher music education, knowledge sharing and various project collaborations. (http://nordplusmusic.net/index.php?id=6)

IASJ

International Association of Schools of Jazz (www.iasj.com)

EAIR

The European Higher Education Society (www.eair.nl)

PARTNER INSTITUTIONS

The Danish National Academy of Music has entered into a large number of bilateral agreements with partner institutions to strengthen teacher and student mobility.

Many agreements have been entered into as a result of the Danish National Academy of Music’s active participation in the interest group Association Européenne des Conservatoires (AEC), where participation in annual network meetings helps to promote the Danish National Academy of Music vis-à-vis European and overseas partners.

Since 1995, the Danish National Academy of Music has had an Erasmus Charter, which is the legal basis for a higher education institution’s European collaboration through the Erasmus programme. The Charter deals with the basic principles and minimum requirements that the educational institution accepts to observe in connection with the Erasmus activities.

ERASMUS CODE: DKODENSE22

NOFO – Nordic Master in Folk Music

The Master’s Programme in Nordic Folk Music is a joint inter-Nordic study programme between the Danish National Academy of Music, the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki (www.siba.fi), the Royal College of Music (www.kmh.se) and the Ole Bull Academy in Voss (www.olebull.no).

The programme is based on both traditional and contemporary Nordic folk music, and central to the programme is the teaching of a main instrument or song. In addition, ensemble playing is included as a very important core area – based on the joint ensemble, which the total of six admitted students are expected to form.

All NoFo students stay together for the first three semesters. The first semester is held in Stockholm, the second semester at the Danish National Academy of Music, Esbjerg, and the third semester at the Sibelius Academy, while the fourth semester is held at the respective home music academy (for the Danish admitted students at the Danish National Academy of Music, Esbjerg), where the final master’s exam is conducted. The last period includes a six-week stay at the Ole Bull Academy in Voss, Norway.

The students thus get the opportunity to study the respective countries’ folk music ‘on location’ as well as the opportunity to get into close contact with the best folk musicians and pedagogues in all the countries involved. The programme will give them unique opportunities to work with the entire Nordic region as a potential job market.

The programme results in a master’s title in music according to the programme descriptions at the individual participating institutions.

Teaching primarily takes place in English. Visit the programme’s website here!

[Please reflect on the Erasmus actions you would like to take part in and explain how they will be implemented in practice at your institution. Please explain how your institution’s participation in these actions will contribute to achieving the objectives of your institutional strategy.]

During the previous Erasmus programme periods, Syddansk Musikkonservatorium (SDMK) has gradually expanded not only the number of international collaborators and partners within the Europeans HEIs but also widened the institution’s mind set when it comes to internalisation as a means of modernisation and transformation of the institution.

From being a tool and prerequisite for exchanging individuals (staff and student mobility) the participation in the Erasmus programme - and the networks that have arisen within the Erasmus framework - has become a central activity and an important driver for exchanging thoughts, ideas and solutions.

Engaging in international activities and networks provides inspiration through dialogue with partner institutions and helps bringing SDMK on par with other modern European HEIs through improvement and quality assurance through the modernization of processes, tools and workflows. Furthermore, being an active member of the Erasmus community also forces the institution to relate and adapt to trends and megatrends in society and reflect and react when it comes to movements and themes such as “me too”, power relations and gender issues.

The participation in the Erasmus Programme is closely connected to the institution’s overall vision, mission and strategy and contributes to a large extend to realizing the goals of the institution as planned in agreement with the Danish Ministry of Culture.

In pursuing the institutional goals and strategic plans the Erasmus principles provides an important frame for exploring and achieving results in relation to topics such as:

• The music academy as a cultural institution and resource for society – locally, nationally and within Europe
• Increased demand for community and togetherness
• Increased outreach and involvement in society
• New fields of relevance (health care, civic society, societal entrepreneurship…)
• Enhanced quality through diversity
• Floating limits between institution, industry and society, new types of partnerships and alliances

Furthermore international collaboration and internationally informed innovation has been and will be an important component in modernizing our curricula, didactics and lines of education through adjusting the existing formats with respect to:

• New technology
• Artistic and cultural entrepreneurship
• Student centered learning
• Labor market relevance
• New business formats and organizations for artists
• Adaptability to change and adjusting to the unpredicted

In conclusion, SDMK naturally supports the idea of easy and transparent mobility between European institutions and the underlying principles of the European Education Area in order to unlock the full potential of education and culture as drivers for developments that support the European identity and project.

[Please reflect on the Erasmus actions you would like to take part in and explain how they will be implemented in practice at your institution. Please explain how your institution’s participation in these actions will contribute to achieving the objectives of your institutional strategy. ]

All strategic international activities are anchored around the international relations coordinator who, together with the management, heads of departments or other relevant parties, facilitates the planning and actual implementation of activities whether they take place within the institution or outside in collaboration with partner institutions, etc.

The international strategy of SDMK is embedded in the institutional strategy and some of the objectives are specified in a row of annual targets explicitly defined and monitored in connection with the performance contract and annual report with/to the Danish Ministry of Culture.

Erasmus activities are at the core of most of the institution’s international activities and supports both internal development and internationalization goals to a considerable degree. SDMK expects to take part in the following program actions:

KA1: Learning mobility: The mobility of higher education students and staff

This action is the main pillar of all SDMK mobility activity and will most probably remain so during the new programme period. This action allows our students to explore other HEI’s and benefit from what they have to offer in terms of specialties, teachers, methods, study environment and didactics. A large number of partner institutions enable SDMK students to apply for institutions that fit their overall ideas and interests.

For staff (teachers and administrative) it gives the opportunity to develop within certain areas together with European colleagues. Outgoing teacher exchanges are often followed by student exchanges from the host institution during the following years. Other teacher exchanges are the starting point of more intensive collaboration within specific artistic/instrumental fields. Staff exchanges help increase the expertise and professional/personal development of teachers and administrative staff.

In the new programme period, SDMK will increase the use of teacher exchanges as strategic means (as opposed to the current more ad-hoc approach) to develop certain educational areas that would benefit from new inputs, exchange of ideas and discussions of learning outcome.

An increased number of administrative staff have shown interest in the possibility of job shadowing or taking part in specially tailored seminars within the fields of study administration in HEI’s in order to keep knowledge and skills up to date. SDMK will make an effort to support such activities.

KA2: Cooperation among organisations and institutions

It is our intention to give the actions under KA2 more attention during the upcoming programme period and thereby develop new important activities within the institution's international accomplishments. The investigation for possible partners/projects has already begun and the first positive and preliminary discussions have taken place and will likely result in partnerships for cooperation and exchanges of practices and/or partnerships for innovation.

However, as largescale projects require more administrative man power and a certain number of participating students within the area in question, the participation in and possible application for projects and/or partnerships under KA2 will be considered in relation to the size of SDMK and the relevance and outcome of the projects in question.

Besides already established specialties and the common European research and development projects within the arts, SDMK considers new European partnerships/project participation and internationally informed innovation within such topics as:

• Development of common terms and terminologies
• Cross-art projects
• Knowledge building regarding new fields of relevance

KA3: Support to policy development and cooperation

SDMK does not have any planned initiatives under this action. However, the membership of AEC allows SDMK to stay informed and connected to decision makers and the overall policy development within the field of music HEIs.

In general, SDMK’s membership to the AEC, its projects, events, initiatives and activities is considered a key element in the institution’s international strategy and activities.

SDMK participates in a wide variety of AEC events and thematic platforms as important yearly appointments to meet international partners, update our staff on new trends in the sector, share good practices and network with partners in formal and informal settings to strengthen our relations and organizing new international collaborations. SDMK takes active part in:

• The AEC Congress and General Assembly, that takes place every year at the beginning of November. This event gathers 350-400 senior managers and teachers from Higher Music Education Institutions (HMEI) from all over the world to discuss and exchange ideas about relevant issues in the field of higher music education both at policy and management level.

• The AEC Annual Meeting for International Relations Coordinators (IRC Meeting) that takes place every year in September. This event gathers about 200-250 international relations coordinators, mainly from Europe but also beyond in order to discuss matters related to internationalisation, mobility and international projects. This meeting has a strong networking component as the building and nurturing of personal and professional relations is meant to be highly beneficial for the institutional development at international level.

• The AEC Pop and Jazz Platform Meeting (PJP) that takes place every year in February and gathers about 150 – 200 representative of jazz, pop, traditional, folk music departments of HMEI in Europe to discuss, share practices and build partnership in this specific area of study, as it puts in contact teachers from the same disciplines.

• The AEC European Platform for Artistic Research in Music (EPARM) that takes place every year in the Spring and gathers about 100-150 musicians, scholars and students engaged into artistic research. In this meeting, matters about artistic research are discussed and actual research projects carried out within HMEI are presented and discussed with peers.

• Several hands-on workshops aimed at the continuing professional developments of staff members of HMEI and connected to the events mentioned above.

• A specific workshop and training for Peer-Reviewers organized by MusiQuE - Music Quality Enhancement (the Foundation for Quality Enhancement and Accreditation in Higher Music Education) delivered every year in connection with the AEC Annual Congress.

• All the multiplier and dissemination events of the Erasmus+ and Creative Europe projects the AEC is part of.These events spread the results of projects beyond the project partnerships.

[What is the envisaged impact of your participation in the Erasmus+ Programme on your institution?]

SDMK’s participation in mobility programmes involving students, teachers and administration has been a driver for a variety of developments on an institutional level and a source of bench marking, network formation and artistic/professional development on a personal level.

Along with the Nordplus network activities the participation in the Erasmus programme by far constitutes the most important single activity within the international work of SDMK. This also means that the development of the Erasmus programme and its principles and guidelines has been intertwined with the development of SDMK as an educational institution for a substantial number of years. The Erasmus programme has not only helped shaping the institution’s outlook but has also been an important tool to help reaching strategic goals and pushing internal institutional development forward.

Past Erasmus activities and experiences form a good basis for exploring even deeper into other aspect and layers of the Europeans collaboration – i.e. extended focus on the Erasmus principles and relevant UN sustainability goals in connection with mobility activities - environmental friendly initiatives, non-discrimination and diversity, gender balance, etc. It is our hope and belief that this will add even more quality to the mobility experiences and music studies in the future.

Besides the obvious and direct benefits of participating in Erasmus there are also a number of derived benefits that will also account to the forthcoming programme period:

• recruitment of talented students (full degree or exchange) and staff
• branding of SDMK
• pitching of upcoming projects and ideas
• better employability and career opportunities due to intercultural understanding and international networks
• quality assurance due to compliance with the Erasmus guidelines

Indicative timeline for targets related to Erasmus+ actions:

2021-23: hosting international meetings/seminars/conferences within the field of music in HEIs + increase in strategic staff mobility

2023-25: involvement in strategic partnerships/projects under KA2 as either initiator or collaborator

2024-26: curriculum and/or institutional development with full implementation of the new Erasmus principles

“As I am sitting in Copenhagen waiting for the train to Prague I realized that it is really happening now, I am moving out from the place where I've spent amazing two years with really nice people. I didn't expect that this would be so difficult. I have to say that all of you guys create an exceptional atmosphere of true friendship, creative environment and peace. You gave me a lot. You gave me support whenever I needed, you gave me feeling like being at real home. Thank you for that, I am really going to miss you. Hope to meet soon again!

(Jazz pianist, Chech Republic)

"I decided to apply as an exchange student in Esbjerg, Denmark, and was accepted. In Esbjerg my life as a music student began anew. It was very hard to properly understand the completely different culture of studying music. Now the main weight was clearly in making music all the time, not in theoretical subjects. And this, once again, was an eye-opener."

"I was also very positively surprised about the student activity in making completely original music."

"In the end, the best and most important decision I ever made in my studies was to relocate the studies to Esbjerg. In the past three years I have learned so much about music and making music. "

(Bass player, Finland)

Information in case of No-deal Brexit

On 19 March 2019, the Danish parliament adopted a legislative proposal (no. L 166) which extends existing EU-rights for British citizens in Denmark and their family members in the event that the United Kingdom leaves the EU without an agreement called the Danish Brexit act. The Danish Brexit act will only enter into force if the United Kingdom leaves the EU without an agreement.

The Danish Brexit act is a temporary scheme and will apply until replaced by a permanent solution. The Danish Brexit act applies to British citizens and their family members, who are legally residing in Denmark on the withdrawal date in accordance with EU-rules on free movement. The law will also apply to frontier workers who work in Denmark on the withdrawal date while residing in another EU/EEA-country.

The Danish Brexit act will secure your student rights according to EU law during the transition period, which means that you will have the same access to the Danish higher educational system as EU citizens have according to EU law. You will only have to pay tuition fees for education in Denmark where EU and EEA citizens pay tuition fees.

You will also have the same access to Danish student grants for education in Denmark and abroad as EU and EEA citizens have according to EU law.

Further information regarding student grants, loans and support go to the website of Ministry of Higher Education and Science: [“How does Brexit affect you?”] hyperlink: https://ufm.dk/en/brexit?set_language=en&cl=en  “