Shifting the Dial in Higher Music Education: from Teaching to Learning, from Musical Artistry to Artistry Engaged in Society

In the context of accelerating societal transformation, professional music and higher music education (HME) are undergoing significant shifts, and although music’s contribution to well-being, creativity, and social cohesion remain vital, its societal value is often overlooked at policy level in favour of STEM disciplines. HME therefore often faces the dual challenges of responding to diminished institutional support whilst simultaneously adapting to evolving cultural, technological, and pedagogical landscapes. For example, student populations are increasingly diverse, and learning environments must evolve to embrace a wider range of backgrounds and needs. Concurrently, music practices are expanding into digital, informal, and interdisciplinary domains, including for example creative health, intercultural collaboration, social justice and climate action.
Over the last years HME has been responding through two interconnected developments. First, pedagogical models have been shifting from transmission-based approaches to constructivist paradigms that foster inclusion, agency, and lifelong learning. This includes flipped classrooms, the use of challenge-based projects, and artistic research. Second, HME has been engaging more deeply with society, rethinking curricula through the lenses of decolonisation, community-based performance and concepts like ‘musicking’. Such changes equally foreground student employability and increasingly portfolio-based careers.
Together, these trends are compelling HME to re-evaluate its core purpose, balancing traditional notions of musical excellence with imperatives for social relevance, diversity, and inclusion. This evolving landscape presents both opportunities and tensions, sparking dynamic, ongoing debate.