Current and Future Challenges

Universities and other institutions of higher education in Germany are changing profoundly at the moment or in the near future. Changing to Bachelor and Master courses of study as a result of the Bologna process are leading to intensive reforms of study. These have progressed differently so far – and it will take the next couple of years for these reforms to be fully completed. It is anticipated that conservatoires offering courses in performance and teacher training require four years for a Bachelor degree and 2 years for a Master degree as opposed to universities which require three years for a Bachelor and one or two years for a Master degree.

Particular challenges of these structural changes are:

1     to keep the balance between a broad training and the development of individual profiles,

2     to continue the music teacher training for primary schools (which is currently at risk)

3     to link the study/training with possible professions,

4     the adequate, lively link between current music trends outside the educational institutions and the internal main focuses (between “Pop Academy” and the elite “Temple of Art”)

5     to foster self-controlled, individual forms of learning and teaching

6     to simplify the process of mutual recognition of study attainments whilst keeping regional particularities,

7     the problem of a “scholarisation” by a too narrow-minded ECTS system in Germany,

8     to effectively link the three phases in music teacher training,

9     the extreme regional differences in teacher training as a result of the federal system in Germany (it is currently not predictable whether the change to Bachelor and Master degrees will result in a stronger unification).