What would you like to achieve by participating in the Erasmus Programme? How does your participation in the Erasmus Programme fit into your institutional internationalisation and modernisation strategy?
Please reflect on the objectives of your participation. Please explain how you expect the participation in Erasmus to contribute towards modernising your institution, as well as on the goal of building a European Education Area and explain the policy objectives you intend to pursue.
The vision and institutional strategy for RMC 2019-2022
It is the vision of Rhythmic Music Conservatory to be a pioneering educational, research and cultural institution within the area of contemporary music. The Conservatory wishes to educate artistic innovators for the future, who can step into society and deliver potentials within a multitudinous network of relations, both locally and globally.
Contemporary music is by nature a global form of art that develops in continuous dialogue between artists and industry professionals around the globe. Even the smallest of niches can find a big audience, if the artist makes the whole world his or hers sphere of activity. Concurrently, the music is also often anchored in its local and sometimes even national context, describing stories of lives lived up close.
The art form has always evolved through cultural encounters – sometimes between closely related expressions and traditions, but often also in very distant relations. It is at the same time deeply weaved into its time and the communities in which it is created. It expresses in word and sound the lives, the people live together, where they are and where they dream of being.
Professional artists in this field must therefore be curious in meeting “the other” that potentially holds the seed for future solutions and expressions. Internationalization is at RMC not an activity, but the waters we’re swimming.
RMC has in the last few years strengthened its international efforts. The conservatory has made partnership agreements with several leading educational institutions abroad. Furthermore, the Conservatory has since 2014 carried out a great number of summer camps in partnership with Copenhagen Jazz Festival and Strøm for international and enrolled students within the fields of jazz composition, songwriting and electronic music. RMC has since 2015 also appointed four honorary professors, all recruited amongst the most powerful international names within the field of contemporary music in their respective fields. At the same time, the conservatory increasingly uses international guest teachers in the daily teachings as well.
RMC also offers two international joint study programmes within the field of jazz in collaboration with leading educational institutions in Europe (EUJAM and NoCoM) and has in the last few years accepted 4-6 foreign exchange students per year, recruited amongst the 70 to 100 applicants from all across Europe. The number of foreign applicants and admittances to the conservatory’s programmes is also on the rise. RMC is an educational institution, that students travel to, to study contemporary music. The internationalization of the programmes at RMC strengthens the quality of education and contribute to attract and retain the biggest talents from Denmark and abroad.
RMC has on the basis of its vision, composed an institutional strategy with the following areas of operation:
- Employment
- Music education and artistic citizenship
- Live performance
- Quality assurance
- Interdisciplinary collaboration
- Artistic innovation
- Recruitment of students
- Internationalization
- Research and development
- RMC as a cultural institution
RMC & Association Européenne de Conservatoires (AEC)
RMC is engaged in giving a substantial contribution to AEC’s mission in strengthening the higher educational programmes in the creative and performative arts with special focus on music. The four pillars in AEC’s mission are:
- Strengthen the quality of higher education in the field of music
- Strengthen music’s value and role within society
- Promote participation, inclusion and diversity
- Strengthen partnerships and interactions with external players
RMC is a member of the central task force for the project ’Strengthening Music in Society’ that is, amongst others, supported by Creative Europe as a network project. The project fundamentally functions as an implementation tool for the above mentioned four pillars. The project work is done within these 7 strands: music in society, diversity and inclusion, entrepreneurship, internationalization, learning and education, digitalization and education for the youngest children. The project’s goals are 1) to strengthen the social relevance and access to music education, 2) to promote employment and mobility and 3) to build capacity and digitalization of the sector.
RMC is furthermore engaged in a long line of networking activities in the areas of AEC. The Conservatory participations in the annual congress, the annual meeting for the international coordinators and the annual meeting for AEC Pop and Jazz Platform (PJP). Employees from RMC also participate at the AEC European Platform for Artistic Research in Music (EPARM), that once a year gathers 100-150 musicians, researchers and students engaged in artistic development work, and also at The Learning and Teaching Platform (LATIMPE), that every other year gathers between 100 and 150 music teachers to exchange experiences in practice and present their projects on music education.
Last but not least, RMC is a partner in the AEC European Online Application System EASY, a fully digitalized system administering student mobility between institutions. The system is trade specific, multinational and handles a wide range of educations, while giving the possibility to administrate both incoming and outgoing mobility applications, Learning Agreements etc.
RMC’s international strategy 2020-2025
To aid the institutional strategy of RMC for 2019-2022 and give a contribution to the work with the strategic goals for the European aspect of the conservatory, RMC has composed an international strategy for the period of 2020-2025 with the following areas of operation:
Mobility
It is the Conservatory’s goal to create a better balance between incoming and outgoing mobility and the mobility between students and staff. The Conservatory wishes to incentivize more students and staff to complete exchanges at foreign educational institutions. RMC will be focusing especially on stimulating exchange residences at institutions, who have a strong position in supplementing the profile of RMC, hereby giving a boost to the quality of the Conservatory’s area of operations.
Interdisciplinary international partnerships
The evolution of art is increasingly happening across the traditional domains of the art forms. This development is most clearly seen in non-institutionalized artistic environments, which poses a challenge for the established artistic educational institutions to create relevant and stimulating frameworks for this development, so as to be able to keep their relevance for the new forms of art. RMC will in the oncoming period of time develop international partnerships with the focus on developing the interdisciplinary potential in an international perspective. The collaborations will hold joint projects and the development of groundwork for joint study programmes in the field.
All programmes must have one or more international partnerships
It is RMC’s expressed goal in the coming years for all programmes at the conservatory to enter international partnerships with institutions, companies or settings in order to strengthen the quality and networks of the programmes.
Development of virtual educational and communication platforms in collaboration with central foreign partners
The music scene and the labour market that RMC, the students and the graduates act in is marked by a rapid technological development. The digitalization opens new opportunities for the Conservatory as well as the students within a broad range of areas, from new types of artistic expression and opportunities, to educational, collaborative and administrative organizational forms and processes. From an educational perspective and following the COVID-19 crises, the development of good virtual educational and communication platforms has become even more pressing. RMC wishes to initiate an international collaboration with other institutions in order to develop solutions that can support contemporary music as a field of art in a relevant and qualified way.
Strengthened international communication of the conservatory’s research results
The production of knowledge is international. In the coming time period, RMC wishes to substantially strengthen its international communication of the conservatory’s research results within the scientific, as well as artistic research.
Joint international usage of capacity and skill building in the area of internalization
As a part of RMC’s collaboration with the other institutions of higher artistic education under the Ministry of Culture, RMC wishes to initiate a joint national effort to strengthen the effectivity in the usage of capacity and skill building in the area of internalization between institutions. A joint platform (InterArt) has been established with the goal of developing a range of specific undertakings, all of which will strengthen the sector’s initiatives in the field.
Contribute to AEC’s initiative to strengthen the role of music in society through the project ”Stengthening Music in Society”
As a member of the task force ”Music in Society”, RMC will continue to significantly contribute to the development of the project ”Strengtening Music in Society”. RMC will mainly contribute to the fields of artistic citizenship, inclusion and diversity.
RMC’s participation in the Erasmus programme supports the Conservatory’s strategical initiatives in regards to mobility as one of the key parts in strengthening the quality of the educations.
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.
RMC wishes to take part in the Erasmus activity KA1 – Learning Mobility.
The conservatory’s work with international mobility is handled by the international coordinator who organizes the work in close dialogue with the principal. Clear internal procedures have been developed for the information regarding outbound exchange opportunities and applications for exchange at RMC. This include thorough professional assessments and approval procedures. In regard to inbound mobility, the conservatory has established internal guidelines for assessment of all applicants. The applicants with the best assessments are offered an exchange study place at RMC. As mentioned, the Conservatory employs the joint European digital application system EASY to administrate this process.
Mobility for the employees is part of a running dialogue between the management and staff regarding the follow-up on strategic goals and development of qualifications of the individual employee. Mobility activities can include both single and larger groups of staff, for example in relation to visiting foreign partner institutions.
As a participant in the Erasmus programme (KA1), RMC will get the opportunity to support its strategic activities in regards to mobility by providing outbound students and staff with important international experiences of practice and strong professional networks, and with inbound mobilities promote the development of an international educational environment at the institution, that stimulates artistic and cultural views and qualify the evolvement of the field. At the same time the mobility opportunities strengthen the graduates’ employment in the global artistic work market, that is increasingly dismissive of boundaries, and integrates RMC as an internationally anchored educational institution in a strong European community of institutions of higher artistic education.
What is the envisaged impact of your participation in the Erasmus+ Programme on your institution?
Please reflect on targets, as well as qualitative and quantitative indicators in monitoring this impact (such as mobility targets for student/staff mobility, quality of the implementation, support for participants on mobility, increased involvement in cooperation projects (under the KA2 action), sustainability/long-term impact of projects etc.). You are encouraged to offer an indicative timeline for achieving the targets related to the Erasmus+ actions.
In the coming years, the conservatory envisions that the number of outbound students and staff will be on the rise compared to current numbers. Particularly, we will be striving to increase the number of outgoing student mobilities to ensure a better balance between incoming and outgoing student mobilities.
In addition to Erasmus mobilities, RMC is offering the possibility of self-organized non-institutional studies abroad. Since this is being practiced by some students, it will affect the number of outbound Erasmus mobilities in some semesters. Furthermore, at the music conservatories, a mobility is granted after assessment of - sometimes many - exchange applications. Due to the big interest, unfortunately quite a few applications are rejected at many conservatories (including our own). So the number of completed mobilities doesn’t always reflect the actual interest from the students.
RMC has established the following numbers of Erasmus mobilities for its international strategy:
Target numbers for students in outbound mobilities:
2020: 4 (affected by corona closedown)
2021: 7
2022: 8
2023: 10
2024: 10
2025: 10
2026: 10
2027: 10
RMC has a stable and very high number of applicants for inbound student mobilities (70-100) and expects that this number will stay at the current level in the coming years. The conservatory offers inbound mobility for approximately 10 students each year, including exchange students from our two joint study programmes. RMC is a small institution with 196 students and therefore consider this level of inbound exchange students to be appropriate compared to the institution’s size and in balance with the target numbers for outbound mobilities.
For both in- and outgoing student mobilities, we emphasize that they are relevant mobilities of high quality. This is, among other things, obtained by a thorough selection of students, institutions and study programmes in order to ensure a favorable profile match, that everyone involved will benefit the most from.
Target numbers for staff in outbound mobilities:
2020: 6 (affected by corona closedown)
2021: 19 (including a teacher group exchange)
2022: 12
2023: 12
2024: 12
2025: 12
2026: 12
2027: 12
RMC regularly receives visits from foreign educational institutions within the framework of the Erasmus programme. These visits strengthen RMC’s professional and institutional network, hereby contributing to the quality of the Conservatory’s work. RMC expects the number of visits by foreign educational institutions to be on a slight rise in the coming years due to higher internationalization of the higher artistic educations in Europe.
For both in- and outgoing staff mobilities, we strive to ensure that they are relevant mobilities of high quality. This is, among other things, obtained by a thorough selection of staff members, institutions and study programmes in order to ensure a favorable profile match, that everyone involved will benefit the most from.
The higher artistic educational institutions under the Ministry of Culture have made a joint agreement to strengthen the capacity and development of qualifications in their international fields of work. The institutions are small and often face difficulties in trying to rise to the challenge by themselves. A strong collaborative effort with sharing of capacity and development of the international qualifications will result in a notable boost for all institutions, not at least RMC, one of the smallest institutions in the collaboration. RMC expects quite a gain from the institutional collaboration, with a rise in the general work quality for students and staff alike in the coming time period.
RMC also expects the full digitalization of Erasmus to be an important element in increasing the quality of our support to all inbound and outbound students and staff.
As indicators we will also be looking at the participant reports, which we hope will be even more positive in the coming years. We will also be monitoring the interest for outgoing mobilities, which we are working to increase.