Erasmus

The Vicenza Conservatory strongly believes in internationalization in which the Erasmus program plays a very important role. The reciprocity established through the program allows the level of academic training to be kept very high. The teachers are stimulated by the presence of foreign colleagues and, in turn, during their mobility, they apply their musical and didactic knowledge to other contexts. During periods of mobility, students acquire greater personal and study autonomy; they can easily compare their preparation with other students by immediately grasping their strengths or where intensification is needed. For the staff, comparison with partner management and administrative procedures is a reason for spreading good practices, increasing awareness of their work, improving language skills and stimulating reflection on the administrative processes adopted.

The international strategy aims to provide each individual participating in the program with excellence in studies and in the acquisition of skills and also to overcome economic and social obstacles and extending the possibility to people with special needs. We would like to consolidate the experience already gained in these areas by making it structural.

The internationalization of the Institute is also pursued in other synergic ways to the previously mentioned one. We have been running an agreement for many years with the Magnificat Institute in Jerusalem, for which we have a ministerial authorization to provide educational requirements necessary for awarding of I and II level academic qualifications, as well as preparatory courses for entry to the academic level. The educational collaboration with the Magnificat has produced three diplomas according to the pre-reform system in the past years and three I level academic diplomas from February 2018 on. The experience is positive and stimulating, not only from a musical point of view, since this action takes on a plurality of easily understandable meanings. We would also like to use Erasmus for bilateral programs with the Jerusalem Academy of Music, as well as being able to offer students of the Magnificat a mobility experience in a European country. Another active agreement is with the University of Southern California (Thornton School of Music) - Los Angeles (USA), with whom we have an active convention with since 2018. In February 2020 we started the first fully self-financed mobilities of our students: we would like to further develop mobility to and from Los Angeles for what it represents for Jazz and Electronic Music (audiovisual application) but also to develop activities with their Department of Early Music. The Vicenza Conservatory also has other bilateral agreements with Chinese universities and conservatories (under renewal) and has just renewed the convention with the University of the Arts of Astana in Kazakhstan.

The internationalization of the Conservatory also concerns research. In 2019 we won the "Leonardo da Vinci" Award organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of the University and the Conference of University Rectors with the aim of enhancing the skills and capabilities of Italian human capital of higher education and research at an international level. Only 3 Higher Music Institutes have received this award. The research was conducted in Belgium. In this case too, Erasmus will be able to provide valuable help in stimulating research projects for teachers and students at other foreign high-education institutions.

The actions listed above will benefit from the Erasmus program in the process of continuous modernization and openness to the world of our Institute, concretely contributing to the building up of an area of higher European education with great potential both for training and employment for students, as well as for research and systematic teaching opportunities for teachers and professional growth for staff. The development of digital skills, the inclusiveness of people with various disabilities, the spread of common values represents an indispensable opportunity for the European citizens of today and tomorrow.


International mobility represents a constant commitment for our Institute. We adopt transparent procedures for submitting applications and evaluating them. We provide support for video/audio recording, for finding accommodation and for what is needed by incoming and outgoing students. We are committed to making mobility available also to students with disabilities making it as smooth as possible. We were among the first institutes to use the EASY platform for Erasmus mobility.

The Conservatory believes in the "Erasmus Without Paper" project as a process of dematerialisation of administrative procedures. We believe in fast and efficient administration, in the continuous availability of information, in the safe sharing of the necessary data, in the protection of personal data, in the reduction of costs and pollution related to the use of paper documents.

In consideration of the current emergency from SARS-CoV-2, we are adopting mixed teaching methods (blended) in presence and online. The forced experience that we are facing and that we may face in the coming months will constitute a basis for reflection for the implementation of the teaching methodologies. In this sense, the suggestions provided by the Association Européenne del Conservatoires (AEC) on specific software and tools for providing music distance learning, which can also be used with incoming or outgoing Erasmus students, are also very useful.

For the next seven years, we aim to increase Erasmus mobility, both incoming and outgoing. We want to increase student mobility for study and traineeship, teacher mobility for teaching and training, staff mobility. The prospect is to stabilize the outgoing annual mobility of teachers and staff to 10% of the workforce, while students outgoing mobility for study and traineeship has as objective 3% of the academic enrolled number.

We want to make available some courses with historical-analytical content in English to facilitate their attendance by foreign students. We have activated an Italian language course for opera singers. We want to make this teaching available to all students who want to learn Italian musical vocabulary.

For our students, the Online Linguistic Support is active before departure: we want to make possible the development and certification of language skills related to mobility.

After a previous experience as partner in a KA2 project (2016-2018 Vox Early Mus), we want to carry out joint projects with other European institutes of high musical education. The Dante celebrations of 2021 will be a stimulus in this sense, as will the Puccini celebrations in 2024. The repercussions of the learning activities both of students and teachers will be therefore on production and on creative initiatives, thus providing external services for Third Mission contributions as a direct result of the Erasmus program.

In the KA2 program, we would like to study the possible awarding of joint degrees with other European Institutes.

Participation in working groups in the Association Européenne des Conservatoires (AEC) will offer stimulating reflections on the innovation processes in progress, seizing the opportunities that technology and digital skills will offer in the coming years.


LANGUAGE POLICY

Our institution requires all non native English speaking students lacking an internationally recognized certification in the English language to take an English language course given at the Conservatory.
We have also an Agreement with a language school of Vicenza. By virtue of this agreement, we offer the opportunity for our students to participate in numerous language courses at all levels.
Before an Erasmus mobility or other foreign experience, we encourage our students to study the language of the host country on their own as soon as their mobility application has been accepted. Depending on the language in question, we can offer audio/visual learning aids and high-speed Internet connection for access to online language courses.
All foreign students can benefit by free Italian language courses for foreigners offered by the City of Vicenza.
The IO also provides some language assistance.

Allegato carta ECHE (2021-2027) -

Allegato carta ECHE (2014-2020) -

European Policy Statement (ECHE 2014-2020) -