University of Hildesheim
The University of Hildesheim Foundation emerged from the Teacher’s Training University of Lower Saxony (founded in 1946), and currently has four divisions: “Educational and Social Sciences,” “Cultural Studies and Aesthetic Communication,” “Linguistics and Information Science,” and “Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Economics and Computer Science”. The number of students enrolled at the University of Hildesheim has increased steadily since 2000 to approximately 7,500 in Winter Semester of 2015/16, of which 73 % are female. Women also comprise 43 % of the faculty, above the national average. Indeed, gender equality, and equal treatment for those from different social, ethnic and religious backgrounds, as well as educational integration in general, are important parts of the university’s mission. Interdisciplinary work, and narrowing the gap between theory and practice, are important components of the research and teaching profile of the University of Hildesheim.
The Center for World Music (CWM) of the University of Hildesheim focuses on the global diversity of musical tradition. It defines itself as a center of competence in ethnomusicology with international, regional commitment and local impact. Its successful work is based on a close cooperation with the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media and the StiftungNiedersachsen.
The activities of the CWM tackle the interface between science and public life: Besides the exploitation and development of archives, the strengthening of the internationalization of the research activities and extension of teaching content, the CWM is expanding intensively in the area of community service. The CWM contributes immensely to integration and education as well as promoting cultural and musical diversity. With this range of tasks the CWM has a unique profile in Europe.
The Center for World Music is an archive and laboratory, a place for research and study. It provides an opportunity for musicians to gather and creates a framework for international encounters and understanding.
The UNESCO Chair in Cultural Policy for the Arts in Development was established at the University of Hildesheim’s Department of Cultural Policy since 2012. It has now been reaccredited by UNESCO and a concept has been drawn up for the second phase from 2016 to 2020. When setting up the Chair in 2011, the title ‚Cultural Policy for the Arts in Development‘ was specifically selected as a reflection of the commonly-used collocation ‚culture and development‘. This is based on Hildesheim’s concept of cultural studies and aesthetic practice, involving close ties with the arts and based on the German understanding of cultural policy as social policy. As part of pursuing Cultural Policy for the Arts in Development, the Chair seeks to bring together approaches to cultural governance in five different thematic areas. These will be honed still further in the second phase. The five areas are as follows:
• Artistic interventions generating new processes of transformation
• Understanding, protecting and defending freedom of artistic expression in relation to human rights and social justice
• Cultural resources and creative capabilities of civil society for engaging in cultural diplomacy and global development
• Cultural policy frameworks for arts education
• The implementation of the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions through partnership and dialogue.
The Hildesheim UNESCO Chair’s main link to UNESCO is the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. The policy impact has recently been discussed within the 2015 report titled “Re/Shaping Cultural Policies”.
The Hildesheim UNESCO Chair is active in the fields of teaching, research, capacity building, publication, discourse and networking. This will be continued through national and international Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD study programs and other research projects. Internationally, the activities mainly involve selected German, European, Arab and African university-level institutions, along with stakeholders in the professional arts, cultural policy and education.