ROCHESTER, NY — The University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music has received a prestigious grant from the U.S. Department of Education to serve as the lead U.S. institution in a major international music project that addresses student and faculty exchanges and educational content. The School’s director and dean, James Undercofler, will head the U.S. delegation.
The “Music Study, Mobility, and Accountability Project” — funded in part by the EC-US Program of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) — brings together five leading music-teaching institutions as a working group that will compare expectations for student achievement and consider the possibilities for common international efforts to advance educational quality. In addition to the Eastman School, working group partners include the University of Houston, the North Netherlands Conservatoire, the Malmö Academy of Music (Sweden), the Royal College of Music (London) — as well as the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) and the Association of European Conservatoires (AEC), the major organizations for U.S. and European music schools.
The two-year project will advance and improve joint cooperation and exchange of students, faculty, curricula, and ideas among the entire memberships of NASM (585 U.S. music schools) and AEC (170 European schools). The findings of the project will be analyzed, compiled, and published.
“This is an unprecedented opportunity for collaboration and exchange,” said Undercofler, who will travel to Nova Scotia in November for the first official meeting of the project partners. “The Eastman School is proud to take a leadership role in this exciting project.”
The FIPSE grant totals $76,100 over a two-year period — 45% of the total U.S. funding — with the remainder coming from nongovernmental sources. European funding will be provided in part by the European Commission.
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