Erasmus Policy Statement

When choosing our international partners two directions are followed:
a) The search for Institutes where our students are offered a wider variety of courses which can allow them to enrich and complete their own study plans, acquiring at the same time new skills.
b) New contacts to be found, in order to provide more opportunities for non-EU students to gain additional skills through studying or training abroad.
The opportunity of encouraging cross-border co-operation to boost higher education performance is taken into high consideration.
At the moment the geographical areas referred to are the ones the bigger Departments highly require: our best partners in the jazz music area is the North of Europe, where our students can either experiment new educational methods and take actively part in the local musical life. East Europe is our regular partner for activities and projects connected to “ Voice”. The mentioned projects allow us to ask private and public bodies for economic contribution in order to create, in the future, funding mechanisms in support of the excellence of our Institute.
As far as the second part of the international strategy is concerned contacts with China, from where several students already come to us, are being made. Apart from participating in the Turandot Project activated by the Ministry, our Conservatory is working, autonomously, on the building of a privileged channel to welcome, on a year basis, a number of students with a certified basic preparation. In the same way, but with different purposes, collaboration with a new non-EU partner, Brazil (San Pedro Theatre, in Saõ Paolo) is being activated. A project involving students and teachers will be carried out with this partner, through the development of training, research and high-level teaching activities, to open up to working opportunities.
At an international level, we are especially interested in first and second cycle students (third cycle courses are not run in our Institute). International master class are most of all designed for first cycle students: teachers from partner institutes are to be listened to and worked with, using new approaches, different from ours. Second cycle students are urged to go abroad and to be involved in international projects, together with teachers. Some time spent abroad is believed vital in order to consider any high level training fulfilled: one of the objectives in the second stage of the Programme will certainly be the increase of the number of mobilities, establishing at the same time special funds in help of deserving needy students.
As far as the staff is concerned the improvement of the foreign student welcome is the main objective, together with making the staff aware of students ‘ wishes and difficulties. Language courses aimed to this purpose have already been accomplished and new ones are being planned. Musicians already used to travel and to be open to the foreign world form the conservatory teaching staff. So a specific internationalization policy is believed unneeded. Demands for mobility are numerous as well as the activities in which they are involved. On the other hand, a more efficient use of the staff training mobility should be reached, together with a better policy in the spreading of results achieved in general.

Project “Erasmus” is twenty-five years old and, in our opinion, it represents a precious and vital instrument to enhance and strengthen the distinctive culture belonging to each European nation. At the same time this project provides the European Union with one of the most effective ways to still play its age-old leading role towards knowledge at a worldwide standard.
In order to agree to the Erasmus Programme, actively and profitably, Rovigo Conservatory intends to pursue, at the same time, three areas complementary to each other.
First of all several services will be at disposal of the guests (students and teachers) to make their stay as comfortable as possible and help them to get in touch with the local culture.
Secondly, from a didactic point of view, the students will be given the opportunity to attend courses where the related subjects themselves will emphasize the characteristics and peculiarities of our Institution. Thus the inevitable comparison, once the differences and similarities between the Institutions are underlined, will lead to a positive partnership.
Lastly, artistic productions are in our plans: the students will be personally involved, having at the same time the opportunity to visit well known historical and touristic places, these being natural sceneries for concerts.
Special courses and workshop meetings, related to musical subjects and aiming to the learning of Italian, will be hold as completion of the mentioned strategies and in view of a deeper cooperation.

A “ net” was and still is the most appropriate picture to describe how men, people and nations have got in contact with each other. Nowadays, thanks to Internet, our planet itself appears as an enormous globe –fish more and more wrapped up in an endless interwoven network. A boundless number of pieces of information, in almost any known language, can get, at an astonishing speed, into the house of every single inhabitant of the planet: this is, to say the least, perturbing, if one comes to think of it.
The inestimable value of the cultural richness existing in Europe has allowed the “ Old Continent “ to lead the progresses in almost all the study areas developing all over the world, as well as to be considered a datum point, thanks to the high level of civilization gained. Every single “ knot” (Institution) of this “ net” forms an indispensable instrument for a compact and solid European Union with respect to its many-sided artistic heritage.
European unique historical and cultural versatility is to be protected and, moreover, to be brought out, aiming at an ample achievement of the growing internationalisation of high-level training. We strongly believe that a partnership can be at its best when each part thoroughly brings out its own characteristics: this is the reason why one of our expectations is an immediate positive confirmation of our excellence. We also believe in the real possibility of gaining public and private economic support, thanks to a solid project aiming at new employment prospects in the musical field and at the up-to-dated transformation of the already existing variety of musician’s jobs.
We are planning an important research work-group aiming at enhancing and strengthen the connection between education and business: in order to fulfil this aim, we would even subject the teaching programme contents and the teaching methods being used to a close, radical if necessary, examination.
We are aware that the Globalism process is a reality in which we are, sometimes not completely consciously, deepened in: for this reason we will engage to support the dynamics socially positive and economically profitable. At the same time we will commit ourselves to reduce the destabilizing phenomena caused by cultural integration too fast compared with the change of the mentality prevailing in every generation.
The immediate effect coming out of the above-explained procedure would be to increase and to quicken the Programs already provided by the European Union and to which we refer to, such as the Global Approach to Migration, and the Bologna Policy Forum.