International relations

“The Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna (MUK) unites musicians, performing artists, and researchers from around the world, offering them opportunities for artistic and scientific development in an open-minded, appreciative, and innovative atmosphere.” This opening statement of MUK's mission reflects the great importance of internationality for MUK.

More than 60 nationalities are represented at MUK, with two-thirds of the students coming from abroad, and the faculty also reflects a similarly high level of internationality. MUK thus sees itself as a diverse, intercultural community that promotes the willingness to recognize different identities without introducing structural inequality among people.

MUK's self-conception as an intercultural community is also structurally embedded in worldwide collaborations in the fields of art, science, and teaching, and in a vibrant international exchange. These values are institutionally anchored in MUK's mission and development plan and are regulated by MUK's cooperation strategy.

MUK has established cooperation agreements with over 180 European and non-European partner universities, thereby building an international network that continues to expand and deepen. A significant contribution to this is made by participating in EU education programs such as ERASMUS+. MUK successfully applied to participate in the ERASMUS+ program generation 2021–2027 and was awarded the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education by the European Commission. Erasmus funding enables incoming and outgoing mobility for students, faculty, and general university staff, as well as international cooperation projects.

Active membership in the most important European higher education networks in the field of music and arts, the Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen (AEC), and the European League of Institutes of the Arts (ELIA), also ensures networking and positioning on an international level, creating comparability, quality assurance, and regular knowledge exchange.

The Bologna Process and the criteria for the European Higher Education Area are fully implemented at MUK. MUK is accredited by the Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation Austria (AQ Austria), and MUK's study architecture includes internationally recognized, student- and learning-centered Bachelor's and Master's programs as well as an artistic-scientific doctoral program (PhD).