Professor Andrea Raabe and Rector Matthias Wiegandt with the certificate confirming the Karlsruhe University of Music's successful participation in the diversity audit “Vielfalt Gestalten” by the Stifterverband. The certificate was presented within sight of the Brandenburg Gate at the closing event in Berlin.
Raising awareness of the potential of diversity in all its dimensions goes hand in hand with efforts to create equal opportunities for students, teaching staff and employees. In 2022, the university management decided to take part in the “Shaping Diversity” diversity audit in order to identify strengths and weaknesses in strategy and structure, studies and teaching as well as internal communication and participation and to target progress based on this.
We networked with seven other participating universities and our auditor Karoline Spelsberg-Papazoglou at external forums and weighed up the opportunities and risks in the context of public university workshops.
Bilateral projects on Turkish, Brazilian and North American music set the first signs in the area of repertoire diversity. The mission statement and university development working group meets with the participation of the specialist groups and the administration, a diversity day, co-designed by the Career Center and Music Medicine as well as students and lecturers from the departments, and working groups and individual initiatives have been working on what was initially only an idea. There are welcome flyers, improvements in onboarding and discussions in the committees.
The certification by the Stifterverband certifies that the Karlsruhe University of Music has started the process in a coherent manner. The next steps are already being taken. On February 12, the Rectorate took part in the annual Diversity Audit meeting online, for which around 80 people registered.
And on Diversity Day, May 27, 2025, university members will have the opportunity to participate in a network meeting at the Literaturhaus Stuttgart, where the status achieved and the possibility of further development in the exchange of Baden-Württemberg universities will be discussed, followed by a celebration.
If you would like to participate, please contact Saskia Stoll at rektorat (at) hfm.eu by February 28, 2025.