Preamble

The Code of Conduct is a self-commitment of all university members and guests to respect the dignity of others and to make the University of Music Würzburg a safe, fair, professional and pleasant environment. This is intended to ensure good study, teaching, research and work on the basis of shared values and to protect and maintain the physical and mental well-being of all those involved. The Code is intended to raise and maintain awareness of responsible cooperation in artistic, pedagogical, academic and administrative practice. The University of Music Würzburg ensures that all members of the university are aware of this Code of Conduct and that they live by it in everyday university life.

(1) Openness and tolerance

The University of Music Würzburg is a place where the freedom of art, teaching and research is respected and practiced. As members of the university, we stand up for equal opportunities, equal rights and respect for all persons regardless of age, gender, status, socio-economic, cultural or ethnic origin, sexual identity and orientation, religion, ideology, disability or illness and respect different life situations and life plans. The university is visibly designed as a place free of discrimination, fear, barriers and prejudice. All people, their individual personalities and their needs are valued and appreciated. Diversity, the variety of artistic forms of expression and the confrontation with others and others are opportunities: they are sources of creativity, offer opportunities for the development of independent personalities and promote the further development of art, teaching, research and administrative processes. Our university is a role model for innovative thinking, sustainability, international and intercultural cooperation and the networking of different areas of education. In the international context of our university, recognition, respect and understanding of the significance and origin of cultural elements and artistic practices are particularly important. Sensitive and critical reflection is a prerequisite for their use or imitation outside their original context.

(2) Reflective handling of power structures, proximity and distance

All participants are aware of the special structures and constellations that result from the close personal, pedagogical and artistic collaboration at a conservatoire and are continuously and self-critically scrutinized. A mindful and respectful approach to physical and emotional closeness includes recognizing, questioning, communicating and respecting personal boundaries. In order to counteract the abuse of power as a structural problem, we as members of the university are committed to reflecting on power structures and one-sided or mutual dependencies between the different status groups and our own roles within them on a recurring basis. This also applies to possible conflicts of interest due to the overlapping of several roles or offices. Fair examination and assessment situations are ensured by excluding bias and by transparency with regard to the criteria and standards. All feedback should be communicated in a comprehensible, constructive and appreciative manner.

(3) Self-reflection and mutual understanding

The willingness to engage in continuous self-reflection, to discuss content and to understand the actions and motivations of others are prerequisites for good cooperation. This applies both to one's own direct environment and to the exchange between the status groups, work and departments of the university. A solution-oriented and respectful approach to differences of opinion, differing points of view and conflicts keeps problems at a professional level and clarifies them through direct communication wherever possible.

(4) Constructive cooperation and respectful interaction

Respectful interaction is characterized in particular by respectful communication, honesty, transparency, openness, the direct addressing of concerns and the clarity of communication channels. Respect is also shown in the responsible use of other people's time, in that agreements are binding and tasks that are undertaken are completed reliably. If agreements cannot be kept, all parties involved are informed in good time. In personal and written communication, all members of the university strive for a language and choice of words that consciously avoids exclusion, discrimination and devaluation and includes all those addressed. All teaching and administrative staff ensure a professional and supportive environment for the exchange and sharing of ideas, knowledge and skills. Their aim is always to provide students with the best possible support. In addition to mutual feedback and self-reflection, regular evaluation and further training also contribute to this. Students and teaching staff are committed to proactive knowledge transfer from both sides. All university members share responsibility for a successful course of study and are actively involved. Those responsible strive for a fair and appropriate distribution of the tasks that arise in the various areas of study, teaching, research and administration.

(5) Respect for property and shared resources

University premises and equipment, personal information and the material and intellectual property of others are treated with respect and professionalism by all. The commitment to sustainability and the protection of the environment is a matter of concern to everyone, as it serves to preserve the basis of our life and work.

The University of Music Würzburg (HfM) is a place where music and its mediation are experienced, researched and presented together, music-related competencies are learned, practiced and further developed. The focus is on the person making music and on music as art and existential experience. While respecting the principle of freedom of art and science, research, teaching and study, a professional, creative examination of all contents takes place.

Self-conception

The HfM Würzburg sees itself as a cultural carrier and mediator. It is committed to and responsible for its role in tradition and innovation. In this way, it makes a significant contribution to the significance and diversity of music-related cultural practices in society.

The HfM Würzburg continues to develop its study programs in a continuous process of confrontation with the socially and culturally conditioned changes in the relevant professional fields.

The HfM Würzburg offers education with the highest artistic, pedagogical and scientific standards. This includes the development of individual excellence through intensive personal support as well as the development of broadly diversified artistic, pedagogical and scientific qualification profiles and competence through a high-quality, differentiated teaching/learning program. The goal of all study programs is to promote the development of students into independent, responsible and reflective personalities.

Regional, national and international cooperation

Networking and cooperation at the institutional level, as well as at the level of teachers and students, both nationally and internationally, are important cornerstones of the HfM Würzburg's university strategy efforts. Through regional networking, the HfM Würzburg lives up to its responsibility as a regional cultural institution and thus also enriches the promotion of young talent and its own study programs.

Quality criteria of teaching

• Interculturality / Diversity
  The HfM Würzburg is an institution where people from different cultural contexts and groups in society meet and work together. It recognizes the diversity of musical practices and is committed to an intercultural dialogue. The resulting opportunities and challenges are dealt with sensitively in order to promote exchange and mutual understanding.
• Competence orientation
  Teaching and learning are oriented, depending on the respective course of study, in particular to the desired competence profile of the students. This includes professional and methodological competencies, as well as personal and social-communicative competencies. The studies at the HfM Würzburg should also open up a protected space for the students in which they can experiment and test themselves without existential or market pressures. In doing so, curiosity for new things is awakened and sensitivity for music-related processes is increased.
• Quality Management
  Through methods and procedures of quality management and teaching development, the HfM Würzburg ensures the achievement of the study goals and thereby enables students and teachers to have a say in the further development of the study program. Compliance with artistic, pedagogical and scientific standards is continuously evaluated and guaranteed. The guidelines (Code of Conduct, Equal Opportunity Concept, Guidelines for Appointment Procedures, etc.), which are developed in collegial committees and discussed on a broad basis, secure the framework conditions for the quality of teaching at the HfM Würzburg.

• Lifelong learning and alumni
  In the understanding of the HfM Würzburg, learning does not stop after graduation, because lifelong learning is a prerequisite for the best possible design of life and work paths. Lifelong learning perpetuates the further development of individual competence profiles and personalities and is actively promoted by the university through integrated further education measures. The HfM Würzburg maintains contact and exchange with its graduates. It sees this as a constitutive element for the institution and for quality assurance.

• Musicians' health
  Raising students' awareness of health aspects in the context of the respective study profile is of particular relevance. This is achieved through a wide range of physiologically and psychologically oriented seminars, physical courses and individual work, as well as through individual medical and psychological consultations with experts. In this way, students also receive support and assistance in the event of personal problems and crises related to their studies.

Conditional factors for teaching and learning

• Shared responsibility and respectful interaction
  Teachers and students take joint responsibility for the success of teaching and learning. Teachers treat students with respect and enable them to take responsibility and actively participate in shaping their studies. Accordingly, students share responsibility for their studies, through active participation in courses, continuous dialogue and constructive feedback, but also through their involvement and participation in academic self-administration or university committees.

• Forms of Learning
  In addition to individual instruction as a central component of artistic training, studies at the HfM Würzburg include instruction in small groups, in seminars, and in lectures; there are also diverse, stylistically broad ensemble offerings, concert and mediation projects, instruction of model classes, and master classes. Self-responsible learning and a variety of methods are already anchored in the module plans. Extensive elective options, individual projects as part of the core curricula, research-based and experimental learning, and independent work in groups ensure a high level of relevance to the professional world.

• Digitization
  The HfM Würzburg deals creatively and reflectively with the opportunities and challenges of digitization. A high degree of information competence in studying, teaching and administration is aimed for. The IT structures required for this are guaranteed.

• Premises and equipment
  The HfM Würzburg provides its teachers and students with excellent premises (classrooms and over-rooms, opera theater, concert halls, library, recording studio, studio for experimental and electronic music, computer rooms, etc.) and instrumental and technical equipment (or similar) to ensure optimal conditions for successful study.

• Administration
  Administration and teaching of the HfM Würzburg work together in a committed and efficient manner. The members of the administration see themselves as competent contact persons for the teaching staff with the aim of supporting successful teaching and learning. The service facilities and the infrastructures for studying and teaching are continuously reviewed and adapted to changing requirements. The HfM Würzburg supports this development through process-oriented quality management in teaching, studies and administration.

Teachers at the University of Music Würzburg

• Artistic, pedagogical and scientific activity of the teachers
  The HfM Würzburg gives its teachers sufficient freedom for their professional development. In this context, the own active practice of the profession of musician, teacher or scientist in regional, national and international networks is regarded as an important prerequisite for good teaching, topicality and professionalism.

• Further education of teachers
  The HfM Würzburg actively promotes the further education of its teachers in higher education didactics, on the one hand through activities at the university, on the other hand through the possibility of taking advantage of offers outside.

University of Music Würzburg, 02.07.2019