From January 26th to 29th, Anton Bruckner University welcomed three doctoral programme coordinators from Italy as part of the Erasmus+ Staff Training initiative. Professors Gaetano Stella (Conservatorio Licinio Refice of Frosinone), Carlo Fiore, and Pietro Gizzi (Conservatorio Alessandro Scarlatti of Palermo) visited Linz to observe the structure and organization of ABPU’s doctoral programme, as Italy recently introduced PhD programmes in music and fine arts institutions.
During their visit, the Italian delegation engaged in discussions with key members of ABPU’s academic leadership, such as the Head of Doctoral Studies Barbara Lüneburg, Deputy Head Lars-Edvard Laubhold, University President Martin Rummel, Vice President for Resources Markus Grimberger, Vice President for Research Markus Neuwirth, and Dean of Pedagogical and Artistic-Scholarly Studies Dagmar Schinnerl. During their meetings, they discussed the challenges and opportunities involved in establishing and running a well-functioning doctoral programme, bridging artistic andscholarly research. Additionally, Prof. Carlo Fiore paid a visit to the Nicolas HarnoncourtCentre, admiring their work.
The visiting professors attended Barbara Lüneburg’s lectures on research design and methodologies, where they engaged with the doctoral candidates and discussed their artistic and scholarly research projects with them.
On Facebook, Prof. Gaetano Stella remarked, “3 exciting days at Bruckner University in Linz to talk about doctoral studies. Thank you very much for the perfect hospitality, organisation, and helpfulness of colleagues and students who shared with us the experience of PhDs in artistic research”, while Prof. Carlo Fiore praised the passion and artistic vision of both the faculty and doctoral students.
The visit was a successful exchange of ideas and experiences, reinforcing the value of international collaboration in higher education. We thank our colleague Anita de Jong for the perfect Erasmus organisation and wish our Italian colleagues good luck in the development of their doctoral programmes!
