‘Reflective Entrepreneurial Music Education Worldclass - RENEW’ This project has contributed to improving the employability of future music graduates through the artistic, pedagogical and entrepreneurial development of higher music education studies. It operated at four levels:-Initiating a cultural shift at institutional level-Changing teachers’ mind-set and approaches to guiding students through their programmes-Developing an entrepreneurial mind-set, including instinctively self-critical and reflective processes, among students-Re-engaging with former students and harnessing their experiences of the world of work The RENEW partners worked together on developing tools to generate change at each level:-Conceptual tools placed entrepreneurship in the wider context of developing self-reliant, critical, reflective and resourceful graduates.-Joint entrepreneurial staff training for teaching staff brought together international experts to design staff development sessions aimed at teaching staff members involved in promoting an entrepreneurial mind-set within institutions as well as regular teaching staff members.-‘Bootcamps’ for students, including master-class sessions, ‘webinars’ and workshops were delivered to the same cohort of students over one semester; distance learning ensured contact and mentoring for each student in-between bootcamps; bootcamps became sustainable after the project period by being embedded as electives in the programmes of individual conservatoires.-Methods and tools to support these learning and training activities: Reflective Portfolios and a Development Toolbox were elaborated to stimulate students’ entrepreneurial thinking and, among other elements, to suggest ways of harnessing the professional experiences of graduates and alumni as a means of convincing both students and staff of the need to think about the realities of the world of work during their studies These tools were gathered and presented in two principal intellectual outputs and an important multiplier event:Output O1: Manual for Reflective Portfolio Method in Entrepreneurship Teaching in Higher Music Education. This output consisted of an online manual for a reflective portfolio method in entrepreneurship teaching, designed specifically for the Music Entrepreneurship field, using the web-based learning environments that are already in use in the partner institutions. The content included materials from different subject areas in the form of an online guidebook for music students and teachers that could be continuously updated afterwards by teachers and used both by teachers and students. Output O2: Joint Module for Entrepreneurship Teaching in Higher Music Education. The concrete intellectual output of this work consisted of a document describing the establishment of Joint European Modules, which consisted of the following elements:Information on the curriculum in terms of content, workload and teaching methodologies:-Arrangements for admission and assessment-Quality assurance arrangements-Models for financial sustainability in terms of costs and tuition fees.-Practical arrangements for the mobility of students and teaching staff Multiplier Event – Final Conference on the Entrepreneurial Mind-set: The Final Conference, provided an opportunity for students, teachers, conservatoire directors, and music professionals from across Europe to come together to learn about, reflect upon, and imagine the extensive possibilities offered by the many facets of musical entrepreneurship. It offered a unique opportunity to show what has been achieved during the course of the project and to motivate further discussion.
Reflective Entrepreneurial Music Education Worldclass - RENEW’ is a two years project (2016-2018) developed by five higher music education institutions (The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus, The Royal Conservatoire The Hague, The Norwegian Academy of Music, The Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Sibelius Academy) and a European network organization (The Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen - AEC). The project has directly contributed to the improvement of the employability of future music graduates through the artistic, pedagogical and entrepreneurial development of higher music education studies while initiating a cultural shift within institutions by changing teachers’ mind-set and approaches to guiding students through their programmes-Developing an entrepreneurial mind-set, including instinctively self-critical and reflective processes. During the two years of the project implementation, the six RENEW partners have worked together on the development of tools and models to generate change inside institutions. Each project partner has planned, hosted and successfully delivered five student bootcamps (one per HME partner institution) involving both teachers and students from very different disciplines and providing them with conceptual tools placing entrepreneurship in the wider context. In addition, the RENEW consortium has organised a joint entrepreneurial staff training for teaching staff that has brought together international experts to design staff development sessions aimed at teaching staff members involved in promoting an entrepreneurial mind-set within institutions as well as regular teaching staff members. Based on the experience and know-how gathered during the project teaching/learning/training activities, the RENEW project consortium has provided HME institutions with a description of how to implement a Joint European Module for Entrepreneurship teaching. The concrete results give guidelines about the establishment of several Joint European Modules mixing elements both at local and international level. The joint module description includes information on the curriculum in terms of content, workload and teaching methodologies- Arrangements for admission and assessment- Quality assurance arrangements- Models for financial sustainability in terms of costs and tuition fees. In addition, the RENEW project has succeeded in expanding the entrepreneurial mind-set among HME institutions in Europe and helping them better understand the importance of this topic and the need of addressing it in order to be able to help future students engage and face the profession. The partner institutions participating in the project have develop tools and expertise that will allow them to implement entrepreneurship in their curricula and train their teaching staff for them to be able to answer the challenges involved in preparing students for the profession. In the long term, not only the institutions that have directly participated in the development of the project will see be benefit from the outcomes of the project but also all HME institutions inside the AEC network (around 90% of all the HME institutions in Europe) will count with models and tools to better embed entrepreneurship in their curricula.