29 April Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) welcomed guests from Shanghai Conservatory of Music in the Faculty of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities (SHMMF). The head of Audiovisual Art Department Vytautas Kederys met with Vice President of Shanghai Conservatory of Music Prof. ZHANG Xianping, director of Music Research Institute Prof. WANG Rui and director of International Exchange Office Ms. CHEN Xiaoyi. During their talk, possibilities of exchange and collaboration between KTU and Shanghai Conservatory of Music were discussed. Vice President of Shanghai Conservatory of Music Prof. ZHANG Xianping gladly answered a couple of questions.
What are the main reasons for your visit in Kaunas University of Technology?
I and my colleagues are very pleased to be invited to your beautiful city Kaunas and KTU university. Especially, we are honored to meet professors of KTU. Although our stay was very short, we talked a lot about possible exchange and collaboration between KTU and Shanghai musical academy (nežinau tikslaus pavadinimo). We have found a lot of things in common: the system of education, the curriculum, etc. Of course, we have lots of differences as well. Our main purpose why we came here is to find those differences and ways to improve our education in Shanghai. During our talk with professors at KTU, we discussed possibilities of collaboration, especially in the music technology field. When we come back to Shanghai, we will have a discussion about this collaboration with our school department and professors to decide what should be done first and what projects could be made between KTU and our music academy. We are able to do a lot: faculties, professors and students exchange.
What was your expactations before coming to our university and did it change after your short stay?
We knew very little about Lithuania or KTU university. Before our visit, we studied some information about Lithuania as well as KTU university. However, in China we have a saying : seeing is a believing. Because we have already visited Lithuania, KTU university and saw everything, we got a real understanding of it now. People here are very nice, kind and I am sure we can do many things together.
Would you like to add something about Shanghai school system?
Our school is a Musical Academy. Here in China we call it a Musical Conservatory. According to China’s school system, although we are conservatory, we are at the same level as universities in China are. This means that we can offer students a degree of bachelor, master and doctor. Because it is a music school, the majority of curriculum, which we are offering, is musical. Our Musical Academy offers academic courses as well, such as history and economy. However, it is not at the proffesional level. In China, our school is ranked first from all the musical academies in China. Every year we have a lot of students, who win international competitions’ prizes. Also, our school is the only music school in the South of China. There are 9 music schools in our country.
What makes your school so successful and special?
First, we have a tradition. The founder of our school is chinese, who studied in Europe, Germany, and came back to China. He studied philosophy and the concept of musical education in the foreign countries. Secondly, our school has many proffesors, which are strong in their areas. In 1950s we sent a lot of professors to study in Russia and they brought back new ideas. The system of our music education is inherited from Russia.
If we compare your music academy with others in China, what are the advantages and differences between them?
Firstly, the advantage is that we are not a private school, which means we don’t need to worry about the budget. Nowadays, China’s economy is growing so we always have enough money. Secondly, we are the only musical school in South, that’s why we have many candidates, who apply to school. Moreover, our faculty is very contributed and take a good care of our students. The disadvantage is that we have many limitations, because we have to follow the ministry of China while you have a possibility to be flexible at managing KTU university.
