Higher Education Institutions of Art, Design and Music as future "European Universities"? Innovative cooperation formats and thematic bridges

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On 18-20 February 2019, DAAD brought together a diverse group of 120 delegates from the world of higher arts education across Europe. Rectors, deans, teachers, international relations officers, representatives of National Erasmus Agencies and the world of artistic work from 26 countries engaged in an intensive programme of encounter and exchange.

The presentations and discussions triggered by the European Universities initiative focussed on the core aspects of the call for pilot European Universities: European values, the knowledge triangle, cross-border collaboration, interdisciplinarity, diversity and digitisation. Visionary keynote presentations were seconded by hands on information from a European Commission representative, a paradigm pioneer and the existing professional networks.

The workshops on the second day offered an opportunity to discuss thematic bridges based on inspiring or challenging practice examples. The last day then invited the delegates into a facilitated open space, the outcomes of which are summarized below in bullet-point style.

Generally, it became obvious that the European Universities initiative has many overlaps with innovative collaboration formats that are either practised by the sector or envisaged for the future. At the same time there is a great need to discuss and keep discussing challenging aspects like accreditation, integration of research learning and teaching, and bridging cultural as well as institutional differences whilst celebrating diversity as a core European value.