Benefits of Membership
We believe the benefits of membership are many and powerful.
Networking
A key benefit of AEC membership is the possibility to connect with almost 300 institutions working with similar ambitions, challenges and concerns. AEC provides a wide range of offers and communication channels through which members institutions can share information with one another and find suitable partners with whom to cooperate.
AEC regularly distributes news through newsletters and social media, and gives its members access to databases, where AEC provides statistics and data on European Higher Music Education which institutions can use to conduct own dialogues with national stakeholders and political decision makers.
From its foundation, AEC has brought together those who work in Higher Music Education Institutions (HMEis), away from the busy demands of their normal routines and in environments designed to stimulate reflection, discussion and, innovative ideas. Forums and Platforms where to meet colleagues, are the AEC Congress and General Assembly in November, the International Relation Coordinators meeting, and a number of thematic platforms, such as the Artistic Research, and the Pop and Jazz Platform.
Think Tank
AEC functions as a platform to inspire each other and to exchange ideas among those who want to shape the future for the sake of music, the arts and cultural education. AEC aims at bringing together highly committed artists, arts educators, researchers, students and other stakeholders taking charge of the welfare and the further development of music and Higher Music Education.
It has always been one of AEC’s strengths to listen to what’s going on, to keep track of new developments, to act as “trend scouts” and to balance out the tension between tradition and innovation. AEC has been engaging proactively in the higher education reforms instituted by Education Ministers across Europe in the Bologna Process. Groundbreaking work has therefore taken place within the framework of a series of AEC led projects involving individuals from the Higher Music Education field.
As a result of their participation in these activities, many individuals from AEC member institutions have now become experts in their own right in matters such as Curriculum design, Artistic Research, Learning and Teaching, Quality assurance, Learning outcomes and Learning assessment, etc. They are carrying on their knowlegde and expertise and thus being the corner stones of an ever growing and shifting AEC think tank.
Advocacy
„AEC is the leading voice for Higher Music Edcation in Europe and a powerful advocate for its members institutions”.
This means that representing and advancing the interests of the Higher Music Education sector at a national, European and international level is one of AEC’s primary aims and duties. On a European level, AEC is in constant cooperation with policy makers from the European Commission and the European Parliament, but AEC is also considered as a reliable partner and advisor on national level.
Advocacy is aiming at the advancement of music, the arts and culture not only through raising awareness and partnerships within the Higher Music Education Institutions but also in contemporary society and for future generations.
AEC assists those who want to create something new or who are forced to work under suboptimal conditions. At the same time, AEC commits to be part of a global network of music advocacy, using its high representativeness and geographical reach in membership to act as a powerful and coherent voice for Higher Music Education and to be an engaged partner in advocating for music, for all the arts and in making culture and cultural education accessable to everyone.
Not yet an AEC member?
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