On the way to the future
University Assembly adopts the 2026 to 2030 structure and development plan
On the evening of 1 July 2024, the University Assembly of the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar adopted a structure and development plan (STEP) for the years 2026 to 2030, which is intended to secure the future of the university and raise the profile of its range of courses. After controversial discussions, some of which took place in public, the University Assembly (which is made up of the Senate and University Council) thus approved the draft submitted by the university's Executive Board by a majority.
"The task over the next few years will be to consolidate the university's finances, which have come under pressure due to massively increased costs, while at the same time ensuring meaningful future development in terms of content," says Prof Dagmar Brauns, Vice President for Studies and Teaching. The STEP, which will begin on 1 January 2026, provides for an expansion of study programmes in the field of music education, among other things.
Training in music-related subjects will thus be even more orientated towards social relevance: "There is a great shortage of specialists in German music schools, and there are also too few teachers for the subject of music. Counteracting this is our responsibility and an important component of our work in the coming years," says Prof Juan Garcia, Vice President for Artistic Practice and Research. "Engaging with music and making music together has a unifying effect, music creates community and builds bridges - across borders that perhaps only exist in our heads or actually exist between countries and cultures."
The Chairman of the University Council, Dr Rüdiger Nolte, is also convinced that the STEP will enable forward-looking development of the only university of music in Thuringia: "A framework is being created that leaves sufficient freedom and at the same time allows the development of a competitive profile."
The contents of the STEP draft have been the subject of controversial debate in recent weeks, primarily due to the planned cancellation of the degree programmes in Early Music. According to the resolution, these programmes will accept new students for the last time in the 2026 summer semester. All current and future enrolled students will have the opportunity to complete their studies in an orderly manner. The time until the start of the STEP is to be used to further develop the programme in the field of historical performance practice, which will be available to all students of instrumental and vocal subjects.
"It will be a success of the original sound movement of the 20th century if many more students can benefit from these skills in the future and apply them in their professional practice," says the Chairman of the University Council, who comes from the historical performance practice scene. "We are counting on this model, which we as the Executive Board now have the mandate to develop, to become a pioneering model in Germany. It should equip our students with the skills they increasingly need in today's music world," Vice President Prof Brauns is convinced.
With the STEP decision, a long discussion process at the Weimar Music Universtiy has now come to a conclusion. The university is thus embarking on a path towards the further development of its study programmes.Above all, the strengthening of music education fulfils a social necessity: "Encountering and teaching music through music educators is necessary for every age group and helps our society to deal with each other in a good and healing way.We now want to take this path wisely and decisively," explains Vice President Dr Jens Ewen.
[1 July 2024]
[01.07.2024]