Global mobility in music higher education: Reflections on how intercultural music-making can enhance students’ musical practices and identities

Music higher education institutions are increasingly recognising the educational value of intercultural learning experiences. Delivering such learning experiences in a way that provides music students with a rich cultural and musical learning experience, rather than a superficial one, can be a challenging task, particularly in the case of short-term ‘mobility’ or ‘study-abroad’ programmes. This article explores ways to address this challenge by reflecting on student learnings from a suite of international study experiences, or ‘global mobility programmes’, at one Australian tertiary music institution, run in collaboration with community partners, universities and nongovernmental organisations in the Asia Pacific. Focusing on how intercultural music-making in the context can enhance students’ musical practices and identities, we first outline the sociocultural contexts of our music global mobility programmes in Cambodia, China and India, and explore the different modes of music-making these experiences afforded. We then draw on Coessens’ ‘web of artistic practice’ to explore site-specific examples of the ways in which global mobility programmes can enhance students’ musical practices and identities. These findings hold particular relevance for music educators and higher education institutions in justifying, designing and carrying out such intercultural experiences to maximise student learning and success.