International Cooperations of the 'Hochschule der Kuenste', Berlin by Heinz Wewer

1. Situation

Presented here is an overview of the international co-operations maintained at the moment by the Hochschule der Kuenste. Emphasis is given to co-operation, in which the President of the International Relations Section plays more or less an essential role. The presentation of the kinds of international co-operations various disciplines are engaged in, something usually materialised in the form of projects, that must be done by the respective disciplines themselves. However, as a rule this is almost impossible to distinguish between involvement of the president versus that of the respective disciplines, since almost all international activities of the Hochschule are based upon the co-operation between the central administration and the respective disciplines.

1.1 Formally regulated bilateral co-operations

In this case, co-operations are those which are covered by contracts. Quite often this kind of co-operation is named 'partnership'. By way of contract the HdK (Hochschule der Kuenste) is participating in the following co-operations involving, generally speaking, exchange of students and instructors, sometimes even projects:

- Californian institute of the Arts, Valencia, California, USA,

- University of Poznan, Poland,

- University of Suricov, Moskau,

- University of Repin, St. Petersburg,

- School for the Arts and Design in Budapest.

Co-operation with these universities have proven to be self-sustainable. On the contrary, co-operations with the art schools in Linkoeping/Sweden and Shanghai were of no duration.

1.2 Informal bilateral co-operation

This kind of co-operation is regulated by mutual written or verbal declarations at the level of either the discipline or that of the administration. Principally speaking, such co-operation relationships can be considered as experimental phases until the signing of a formal contract. At the moment, informal co-operations exist with the following universities / art schools in an active manner:

- Ecole Nationale Supιrieure des Beaux-Arts Paris,

- University of the Applied Arts, Prague,

- Escola Massana Barcelona,

- School of the Art Institute of Chicago,

- Hunter College, New York,

- Alberta College of Art, Canada,

- Conservatoire de Musique et de Danse, Paris,

- Music Conservatory in Budapest,

- Music Conservatory Franz Liszt, Budapest,

- Music Conservatory Minsk,

- Music Conservatory Riga,

- Music Conservatory Oslo.

Within this type of informal co-operation there are countless projects, such as the participation of department FB 1 in the "Biennial of the South", or that of department FB 6 in the "European biennial of the Art Universities", the Grieg project of departments FB 7-9, or the Acmatov-Project of departments FB 10 and 11. These informal co-operation contacts are a rich potential for future co-operation policies.

Between this type of informal co-operation and the ones involved in multilateral forms of co-operation by way of 'networking', as shall be sketched in the following, there exists a flowing transition.

1.3 Multilateral Co-operation: ERASMUS

In the field of multilateral co-operations between universities dominate nowadays in Europe the programmes for co-operation and mobility initiated by the European Union, in particular ERASMUS (the co-operation between universities within the EU and the former EFTA), TEMPUS (co-operation between universities of East and West Europe), LINGUA (mobility programme for the promotion of linguistic studies) and COMETT (co-operation between universities and industry).

The Hochschule der Kuenste is actively involved 1994/95 altogether in 12 ERASMUS co-operation programmes. In three of the ERASMUS-programmes, the KdK is the project co-ordinating university, represented in one case by the co-ordinator of FB 5, Prof. Bustamente, in two cases by the author of this paper. Nine of the 12 ERASMUS-programmes, in which the HdK is a member, are administered and conceptionally extended by the central administration of the university - international relations section - in conjunction with the co-ordinators of the respective departments. These nine ERASMUS-co-operations make possible the exchange of students and to some extent also of professors with the following universities:

- Denmark: Royal Danish Art Academy, Copenhagen,

Denmark's Designskole, Copenhagen,

Arkitektskolen, Aarhus,

- Finland University for Art and Design, Helsinki,

Sibelius - academy, Helsinki,

- France Conservatoire National Supιrieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris,

Ecole Nationale Supιrieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris,

Ecole Nationale Supιrieure d'Arts Graphiques et d'Architecture

Intιrieure, Paris,

Institut Franηais de la Mode, Paris,

Ecole d'Art de Marseilles,

Ecole des Art Dιcoratifs, Strasbourg,

University Grenoble,

- Great Britain Royal College of Art, London,

Central St. Martins School of Art and Design, London,

Chelsea College of Art and Design, London,

London College of Printing,

Middlesex University, London,

University of the West of England, Bristol,

Wincester School of Art,

University of Derby,

Napier University, Edinburgh,

University of Humberside, Hull,

- Ireland National College of Art and Design, Dublin,

- Italy Academia die Belle Arti di Bologna,

Academia die Belle Arti die Ravenna,

Politecnico di Milano,

- Holland Rietveld academy, Amsterdam,

Hogeschool 's-Hertogenbosch,

Hogeschool Rotterdam en Omstreken,

Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Uterecht,

- Norway National University for Art and Design, Oslo,

Music University, Oslo,

Vestlandets Art Academy, Bergen,

- Austria University for Music and Visual Arts, Vienna,

Academy of the Arts, Vienna,

University for the Applied Arts, Vienna,

University for artistic and industrial design, Linz,

- Sweden Art university, Stockholm,

Music university, Goeteborg,

Art university, Goeteborg,

- Switzerland School and Museum for Design, Zuerich,

- Spain Universidad del Pais Vasco - Bilbao,

University de Barcelona,

University Autonoma de Barcelona,

Escola de Disseny Elisava Barcelona,

Escola Tecnica Superior d'Arquitectura Barcelona,

Universidad Complutense Madrid,

Universidad de Salamanca,

Universidad de Sevilla.

There has been planned with the above named universities for 1994/95 an exchange of 150 students and about 15 professors.

Aside from the nine ERASMUS-programmes, which are organized at the central administrative level, there are three additional programmes subject to decentralized responsibility. They are, as it is customary at university level, supervised by three professors. They are:

- one program with five universities developing an international Masters Study of clothing design (responsible: Prof. Barbara Ehring);

- a co-operative unison in the area of Social- and Economic Communication

(responsible: Prof. Carlos Bustamante);

- a co-operative network of the Technical University of Berlin providing students of the HdK with the possibility of an exchange with the university of Grenoble (responsible: Prof. Friedrich Braun, TU).

It is characteristic of the organization of such ERASMUS-programmes linked with the HdK that there prevails within the centrally administered co-operation networks a division of labour: the administration of the university - International Relations Section - looks after the entire management, including calculation and payment of scholarships, organization of language courses, etc., while the selection of the participating students and professors as well as the substantial orientation of the program and the monitoring of the students at the departmental level resides with the representative for international relations as selected by the respective faculty. External representation, especially during the participation in co-ordination mediations with the partner universities, is selected according to a consensus between administration and the faculty's representative.

This division of labour between central and decentral levels functions extremely well. It requires an enormous willingness to co-operate and to be congenial as much as an idealism on the part of the participants.

Another essential prerequisite for the functioning of the ERASMUS-programme at the HdK is the until recently generous complementation of financial means for the programmes by the special university programme II.

1.4 International Organization

The Hochschule der Kuenste is member of a series of international organizations such as the Association Europιenne des Conservatoires, Acadιmies de Musique et Music Universities and the International Conference of Fine Art Deans (ICFAD).

The most important membership of these with respect to political, personal and financial engagement is the European League of Institutes of the Arts (ELIA). The HdK was a founding member of ELIA in 1990 and has shaped considerably its programmatic and worked continuously within that framework. In 1994 the HdK will be host for the international ELIA-conference.

2. In-between balance

Since the end of the eighties, the HdK has created a tight net of co-operative relationships within Europe. Due to the political changes in Europe, the unification of Germany and the new role of Berlin as European metropolis, along with the availability of new instruments for co-operation between universities within Europe, the special university program II and last, but not least due to the engagement of the many involved, all of this has created a basis for this built-up.

Geographically and politically speaking, this development has a negative side: it is almost exclusively limited to the Europe of the European Union and the neighbouring countries in the East. An external co-operation outside of Europe that is clarified by way of contract takes place only in one single case, in that of the CalArts.

Also in terms of disciplines being involved, there is a negative side: music and architecture are under-represented. It will be task of planning future co-operations for the HdK to counter these deficits.

The build-up and extension of the co-operative relationships of the HdK since the end of the eighties has taken place and continues to do so under favourable financial conditions. These relationships were developed in sanctuaries which were created during a time when no one could anticipate into what dramatic forms the recession in Europe would develop. The essential parts of that sanctuary space are the ERASMUS-program of the European Union and the special university program II of the federal state and the Laender, which is supposed to continue until the year 2000. Both programmes are extremely efficient. Without them, the dynamic development of co-operative relationships within Europe, in which the HdK takes part to a considerable extent, would be inconceivable.

The consequences of the ERASMUS-program are a revolutionary blessing. Not only did thousands of students obtain the opportunity to study abroad, but also the principle of working together as partners has created within Europe completely new communication and co-operation structures. Over and beyond that ERASMUS has despite of being basically an initiative program brought about in both individuals and institutions enormous amounts of energy and put the universities (also the HdK in Berlin) under the constructive pressure, to extend or even create for the first time infrastructures for international co-operation.

Furthermore, the specific contribution of ERASMUS to the creation of European institutes should not be under-estimated. The European Cultural foundation which had been given the task to administer ERASMUS has created with its ERASMUS office in Brussels, an establishment which can be with its minimum of bureaucracy and highly professional competence of its staff, a model for the creation of European institutions. Attempts to "restructure" ERASMUS in the name of the subsidiarity principle and the need to curtail spending, and even to relocate decisions at a national level, as preconceived by the European Commission in its draft of a Socrates program, should out of this reason be followed with all possible mistrust.

With regards to the further development of international cooperations of the HdK there prevail a number of problems worthwhile to point out:

- The intensification of the economic crisis in Europe poses a serious obstacle to student mobility. Students hesitate quite often to give up a job, in order to study often only with the support of a modest partial ERASMUS grant abroad (usually around DM 250 to 300). Often they fear that external studies will elongate their studies and hence cause a delay in their entry of the labour market. This phenomena can be observed in particular on hand of students from Great Britain. Also students from the HdK, who participate in an exchange program, risk naturally loss of job, but they are put through additional funds by the HdK into a position that they can cope with the additional financial burdens which studies abroad involve.

- The exchange of flats, something which is an important part of the international co-operation work done by the HdK, is not all the time possible. In such cases the HdK is obliged to provide their international guests with accommodation at feasible prices. Within limits private residences even from members of HdK can be made available, within still greater limits places in student dormitories. Sometimes the University cannot help at all.

- Generally over the past four years there has grown the willingness at the HdK to get involved in international co-operation and communication. However, there are still professors at the HdK who regard international exchanges as disturbances or as superfluous. There are still reports by foreign students who upon returning from a duration of studies at the HdK, say that they did not feel welcomed by the faculty to which they had been designated, that they had run around for a long time without orientation, never had seen their professor, etc. These may be exceptional cases, but they contribute in quite a substantial way to reducing the image of the HdK. It is certainly not an incidence of hostility towards strangers, but rather one of indifference vis-a-vis one's guests and of a lack of human warmth.

- For the sake of completion, it has to be mentioned, and it needs no further comments, that hostilities towards strangers, racialism and neo-nazism have invoked for several years bad memories and fears, are signs of endangering the human beings and the political institutions in this country and, of course, also of the international cooperations.

3. Perspectives

3.1 Points of orientation

Why and under what considerations should the HdK develop international cooperation relationships? I propose the following points of orientation:

- International co-operation relationships must satisfy the highest demands of quality and open perspectives for those participating in terms of professional enrichment and further development.

- An essential goal of international university co-operation is the contact and exchange with other cultures, norms and social systems. The contact and exchange can be made at this level into an intellectual and artistic, fruitful challenge, serving the purpose of personality development of the participants by decreasing prejudices and overcoming chauvinism and hostility towards strangers. It is suited for questioning the individual and social self-understanding, to grasp the relativity of one's own position and for promoting the ability to conscious and self-responsible acting.

- For Germans there exists due to the past history a special moral responsibility towards populations and ethnic groups who still today suffer under the trauma of German violent rulership; and from history as well as from the geopolitical given there results a special responsibility towards keeping peaceful relationships in Europe. This moral dimension with regards to a co-operative policy should be kept in mind when selecting partners.

- The termination of the military presence of the victorious alliance of the Second World War in Germany suggests to the university, that it has to contribute towards a new conceptualization of the relationships between Germany and its former enemies during the war. In the interest of the present and future generations such a relationship can only be one as such, if based upon mutual respect and peaceful co-operation, in which the arts and the sciences play a major role. The development and extension of co-operative relationships to the renowned Art and Music universities in France, Great Britain, the United States of America and the states of the former Soviet Union should have, therefore, for this task the highest priority.

- International university cooperations should not be ordered from "above" (top-down). They have a chance to take root only, if they relate to concrete, long term interests of the participants and when the conditions can be co-determined by those members of the university who supposed to fill this co-operation with life.

3.2 Recommendations for the development of international co-operation relationships of the HdK

I recommend to set priorities for the further development of international co-operation relationships of the HdK. These should not constitute a close programme, but rather give orientation within a wide field in which one can easily loose the overview.

Priorities for international co-operation can be set according to subject matter and geographical considerations, but also as methodological (exchange of students and professors, workshops, joint projects, common curricula etc.) and possible further criterion.

In the following I shall stick to the conventional method of attribution in terms of subject matter and geographical considerations.

Co-operation priority: music and visual arts

Thanks to the international work of the Artistic Office of faculty 7 as well as the establishment of a ERASMUS-program "Music" (co-ordination: Sibelius academy Helsinki) deficits as to the participation of music in international cooperations have been reduced at the HdK. However, the possibilities offered for exchange of students fall nevertheless still short of the interests in studies abroad, especially in the case of students of the faculty for teaching music. Therefore further possibilities for international exchanges in the discipline music should be created.

Starting points for stabilising or extending working relationships with other music universities in other countries are given. They are derived out of projects which the faculty 7 together with the Artistic Office could realise - for example, with the Paris Conservatoire National Supιrieur de Musique et de Danse, the London Guildhall School of Music, the Budapest Franz Liszt music university, the Prague music university and the Oslo music university. With the Paris conservatoire and the Oslo music university the HdK has also contacts within the framework of the ERASMUS-program. Guildhall would be for the HdK a particularly interesting partner for a long-term co-operation since it has many disciplines, amongst which are theatrical performance and music therapy.

In thinking about such music universities that could come into consideration, one has to direct one's interests naturally towards Russia and the USA. In Russia the renowned conservatory in St. Petersburg (it does not have to be always Moskau) becomes a point of interest for partnership through the ERASMUS. As a prospective partner in the United States of America I recommend the well known and highly reputable music universities such as Juilliard School of Music in New York, School of Music of the Indiana university in Bloomington, or the Eastman School of Music in Rochester NY, which offer not only high quality, but also numerous subjects.

It is self-understood, that the already existing cooperations with smaller universities such as in Minsk and Riga should be continued, as long as there comes the support from the disciplines.

Co-operation priority architecture:

In architecture there is, as has been mentioned already, a deficit in co-operation which has to be overcome.

Faculty 2 - architecture - has refused over many years to participate in any international co-operation of the HdK, primarily to the disappointment of many students. Recently there are, however, signs of a change of attitude, and it is hoped in the interests of the students of architecture, that this will lead to a continual and committed effort of FB 2 to participate in the international co-operation of the HdK.

Prospective co-operation partners could be through ERASMUS two highly cherished universities amongst the students, the Mackintosh School of Architecture of the Glasgow School of Art, and the Technical University of Barcelona, with both of which the HdK has already attained an ERASMUS-partnership. Co-operation in the area of architecture has, however, only then a meaning when supported and co-determined by the teaching staff of faculty 2.

Co-operation priorities: West- and Middle Europe

This co-operation priority unfolding almost exclusively within the framework of ERASMUS should be maintained. If possible, the number of "Networks" in which the HdK is involved in, should be reduced for reasons of effectiveness. High priority should be given to the stabilization of relationships with universities in the metropolis, in particular in both London and Paris. Traditional contacts, such as the ones with the Scandinavian countries and the Baltic republics, should be continued.

I recommend to stabilize and to bring formally into contract the already existing co-operation relationships with the exceptional universities such as the London Royal College of Art, the Paris Ecole Nationale Supιrieure des Beaux-Arts, the already mentioned conservatory in Paris, and the specially renowned university of Sevilla in the area of visual arts. As mentioned above, co-operation should be taken up with the Guildhall School of Music, especially in the areas of music/acting/music therapy.

Co-operation priorities: East and Middle East Europe and Israel

Existing cooperations with universities in Moskow, St. Petersburg, Budapest, Poznan, Minsk and Riga should be maintained. Principally speaking, exchange of students should have prime consideration prior to exchange of teaching staff. It ought to be examined whether or not prevailing co-operations with the traditional academies in Surikov and Repin should be complemented by co-operation with universities which have opened up to contemporary influences and whose range of disciplines include also design and visual communication; given these aspects of consideration, a closer look should be given to the Stroganoff University in Moskau and the Mukhina university in St. Petersburg.

A high priority should be given to the establishment and built-up of relationships with Art universities in Poland and in the Republics of Czechia and Slovakia. Possibilities of co-operation with universities in Israel should be examined. Here it would be possible to extend already prevailing contacts in the areas of architecture and music therapy.

Co-operation priority: United States of America

The USA offer a huge potential of educational institutes with high quality in all areas relevant to the HdK. In addition, the cultural and political contacts between Germany, in particular Berlin, and the USA will have no doubt also in future high priorities. It appears, therefore, to be quite urgent that the deficits in matters of co-operation between the HdK and American universities are decreased.

I recommend to continue the under contract standing relationship with the Californian Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and to put on the basis of a contract the prevailing, factual co-operation with the School of the Art Institute in Chicago and the Hunter College New York. Over and beyond that, ad hoc cooperations as offered by American universities should be taken up, insofar interests prevails at the HdK in that and insofar as resources are available for that (see above recommendations for university co-operation in music).

Co-operation with American universities - principally also with British ones - refers, us however to a grave problem: American students who have to make as a rule many financial sacrifices for their studies are used to regarding universities as a service industry guaranteeing them with specific services. Once they attend, for example, German universities, where such self-understood services as the presence of, and guidance through the professors is not guaranteed, it can lead to quite massive reactions and to a loss of international reputation of the German university in question.

Co-operation priority: Third World

Despite the fact that the build-up and the consolidation of co-operation relations to universities to the above mentioned regions should have top priority, it would be fateful to search exclusively in the euro-american cultural sphere for co-operation partners. That would only add to the cultural fortification mentality which is already being promoted by political developments. Perhaps it might be advisable to study the experiences with co-operation in countries as Great Britain, France and Spain who continue to have close cultural ties with their former colonies.

Co-operation priority: ELIA

It is beyond all question, that the HdK must mobilize all the necessary resources, in order to guarantee an adequate and successful absolvement of the ELIA-conference in Berlin 1994. After the conference, four years after the creation of ELIA, there should follow a thorough evaluation.

Infrastructure, Financing

The presently existing administrative infrastructure (positions, payments at the level of 1993, space) is sufficient, to uphold the present co-operation structure of the HdK. The limited positions (2 1/2) in the international relations section, given the maximum work load, makes the work of the co-ordination subject to crisis, as was the case with the departure of one co-worker in the summer 1993. Additional tasks can only then be undertaken by the co-ordinator, when additional personal resources are made available. The same goes for the financing of co-operation relationships. All ERASMUS-means are tied to projects, the financial resources of the special university program II may only be used for purposes of co-operative work within Europe, and in the budget of the HdK there is foreseen for international co-operation only a modest sum of money, which is largely used for the co-operation with CalArts. The recommended build-up and extension of co-operation is therefore only then possible, if additional means are made available in an appropriate proportion to the considerable volume in discussion.

Since ERASMUS and the special university program II are limited in time, the university must take care, that after the termination of these programmes there is made available by the budget a sufficient amount of money to continue the work; this build-up should not be postponed until the last moment, but rather take place in time and be continued in a consistent manner. It should also be remembered that in times of tight public budgets and given programmes which are limited in time, that they are terminated quite often sooner than expected. In the case of international relations of the HdK this would incite the danger of a complete collapse.

International centre

The international co-operation of the HdK could gain considerably in quality, if the university had at its disposal an international communication and accommodation centre. This centre must be located within the vicinity of Berlin's community transportation system. International co-operation relationships at world level are only possible over time, if there is made available suitable accommodation for hosting the international guests.

This is a revised version of the report from the 18.1.1994 which in turn was based on the first version that appeared in the HdK journal of April 1993.

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International Cooperations of the 'Hochschule der Kuenste', Berlin by Heinz Wewer