By René Wynants, IN.TUNE Student Council member and student representative in the Committee of Work Package 4 Strengthening Our Research Dimension

On 3–4 November, the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna hosted the first edition of AIRE – Annual IN.TUNE Research in Education Event: a two-day conference bringing together researchers, teachers and students from the eight partner institutions of the IN.TUNE European Alliance.

The gathering marked an important milestone in the alliance’s growing collaboration around music research and its resonance in educational practices across IN.TUNE universities, and introduced a new shared infrastructure – the IN.TUNE Knowledge Hub.

The first Annual IN.TUNE Research in Education Event (AIRE) brought teachers, students, and researchers from all partner institutions together at University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna (mdw) — and online — to explore the many ways artistic practice, research, and teaching intersect in higher music and arts education. Across topics ranging from research-led teaching and interdisciplinary practice to challenging canons, community engagement, and field-based learning, participants shared diverse perspectives and experiences. The event highlighted the richness of approaches within the alliance and the value of dialogue in shaping future educational practices.
In the reflections below, two participants from Uniarts Helsinki share their impressions and insights from the event.

How do we build lasting trust in artistic standards across institutions? This interview follows three teachers from Sibelius Academy of Uniarts Helsinki, who served as external examiners at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague in Spring 2025, encountering new evaluation cultures, bold programming and truly holistic final concerts. Their reflections speak directly to IN.TUNE’s ambition to pilot an intra-university exchange of external examiners: inviting partners to take part in one another’s formal assessment processes as a foundation for closer, long-term cooperation in internal and external quality assurance. The goal is mutual, continuous trust in educational quality — while enabling teachers to learn from diverse assessment approaches and informing whether admissions and examinations could be better coordinated across the alliance. Read the full interview to see what this looks like in practice and why it matters for our next steps.

At the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw), IN.TUNE is moving from planning to practice — and mdw’s Institutional Alliance Manager offers a front-row view of what this new phase means for teachers, staff, students and partners. From 66 proposals, 16 joint teaching pilots will now roll out across 2025–27 in formats ranging from online courses to blended intensive programmes and longer joint modules, with mdw engaged in ten. Alongside fresh offerings — from socially engaged musicking to immersive sound and creative communication—two joint degree pathways are in development: a modular “Music Master” concept and a renewed, more flexible ECMAster. This concise insight from Veronika Leiner (mdw) shows how ideas are becoming concrete opportunities and how we’re building towards coordinated, sustainable provision across the alliance.