For many years, now, isa – the International Summer Academy of the mdw has been viewed as one of the most prestigious summer courses for up-and-coming talents hailing from all over the world. This year’s inaugural Viennese edition of isa took place at the innovative mdw Campus, where young musicians came together in order to hone their abilities, network internationally, and expand their artistic horizons in high-intensity master class sessions, workshops, and concerts.

Diplomatic relations between Austria and Tunisia have already existed for 300 years, and the signing of the cooperation agreement between the mdw and Fondation Hasdrubal in 2023 made a strong contribution to these relations’ reinforcement and to the continuation of an important (inter)cultural dialogue.

Music reflects the environment from which it comes. 19th-century symphonies from the German-speaking region, for instance, are characterised by highly structured forms, rich harmony, and a continuity of musical traditions. 20th-century music from Latin America, on the other hand, grew out of an entirely different reality: vast, untamed landscapes, rapidly growing cities, political conflicts, and identities fed by indigenous, African, and European heritage.

It’s typically reasons like the desire to step outside of one’s comfort zone, to learn new things, to broaden one’s professional horizon, and to engage in exchange with others at the international level that motivate participation in mobility activities.

For nearly two years, now, the mdw has been working together with seven European partner universities on the European Universities Alliance IN.TUNE – Innovative Universities in Music and Art in Europe. The objective has been to develop common offerings as well as strategies in the areas of Joint Education Provision & Mobility, Research & Innovation, Societal Engagement, and Alliance Governance and Cooperation.

It’s whenever multiple crises play out simultaneously that the key ways in which universities foster lively, society-wide discourse become particularly clear—in light of which the following pages introduce mdw projects that put common ground and dialogue firmly in focus.

"All of the mdw’s areas of study are strongly intertwined with scholarship and research—including music education, which even has its own research department. Teacher training can only be elevated to the highest possible level of excellence if it’s deliberately kept distinct from the training of performers."

Bridging the gaps between multiple fields—specifically, the social sciences and film—as well as between groups within society was the central thrust of the project BUILDING BRIDGES in Polarized Societies: Film – Wien – ArbeiterInnenmilieu – Rechtspopulismus […: Film – Vienna – The Working-Class Milieu – Right-Wing Populism], which ran from 2021 to 2025.

We live in a deeply unsettling era overshadowed by an anthropogenic climate catastrophe, violent conflicts, and the erosion of democratic societies. In times like these, everyone is called upon to help build a more sustainable, peaceful, and mutually supportive coexistence, no matter how modest their contributions may be.

How do kids and teens learn about what’s being researched at universities? And where can the findings of scientists and scholars be directly perceived in our everyday lives? Science communication formats aim to enable people situated outside of academic fields to encounter topics from the realm of science and research in the most accessible way possible.