In order to increase its connection with AEC members and to extend its knowledge of the various national situations, AEC Council has decided to organize more if its regular meetings all across Europe in order to schedule meetings with representatives of its member institutions and, when appropriate, of the government.
Thus, a meeting with representatives of the Italian Ministry for Higher Education and Research and of the Italian Conservatory Conference took place in Rome just before the AEC Spring Council meeting (7 April 2017). Possible joint actions were discussed (for example in the field of Artistic Research), but above all possibilities for mutual support and exchange in the process of adapting the framework requirements set by the Bologna Convention to the Italian higher music education system.
AEC has also continued its active involvement at the European policy level:
Thus, a meeting with representatives of the Italian Ministry for Higher Education and Research and of the Italian Conservatory Conference took place in Rome just before the AEC Spring Council meeting (7 April 2017). Possible joint actions were discussed (for example in the field of Artistic Research), but above all possibilities for mutual support and exchange in the process of adapting the framework requirements set by the Bologna Convention to the Italian higher music education system.
AEC has also continued its active involvement at the European policy level:
- AEC CEO attended the 22nd conference of Nordic Network for Research in Music Education (NNMPF) organized by the Academy of Music and Drama, University of Goteborg. The event focused on the presentation and discussion of the interim status of a transnational research project on the topic of academicisation of artistic courses in Higher Music Education (HME) institutions (15/16 March 2017).
- AEC CEO was invited by the former President of the Committee on Culture and Education of the European Parliament, Silvia Costa, to present AEC’s perspective with regard to the draft report produced by the Culture and Education and the Foreign Affairs Committees of the European Parliament concerning the establishment of an effective EU strategy for international cultural relations (22 March 2017).
- AEC CEO met with representatives of "Culture Action Europe" and "The European Alliance for the Culture and the Arts" to discuss how to effectively join forces in advocating and lobbying for the sake of music in Brussels (30 March 2017).
- AEC CEO met with representatives of the European League of Institutes of the Arts (ELIA), The Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision (CILECT) and the International Association of Universities and Colleges of Art, Design and Media (CUMULUS) to exchange ideas, planning joint projects and joint project applications, as well as discuss possibilities to open regular activities of the four organisations to members of the other organisations and mutualise speakers on topics such as interdisciplinarity, artistic research, aesthetic education in general education (11-12 May 2017).
- AEC President and CEO, together with the AEC International Relations Coordinators Working Group attended the 200 anniversary of the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst (MDW) in Vienna. This event was linked to the International Symposium ‘The Future of Higher Education in Music and Performing Arts’, in which the AEC CEO chaired a session where rectors from all over Europe, America and Asia discussed the future challenges of higher music education (6/7 June 2017).
- AEC President, Vice President and CEO attended the International Music Council (IMC)/European Music Council (EMC) Annual Forum in Pafos (Cyprus), where the European Agenda for Music (EAM) outcomes were presented (10 June 2017). On 11 June, AEC Vice-President Georg Schulz was elected by the IMC General Assembly as new member of the IMC Board.
- The AEC CEO participated in a networking event organized by EURASHE (a European association that represents universities of applied sciences and university colleges), at which Sarah Lynch, Head of the DG's Sector of Higher Education Policy at the European Commission presented the "Revised Modernization Agenda for Higher Education". EURASHE's president, Stéphane Lauwick, and the AEC CEO agreed on reinforcing cooperation between EURASHE and AEC (16 June 2017).
Foto: ©Marcell Nimführ
