Study on abuse of power, discrimination and sexualised violence

Here you can read the complete final report of the study on abuse of power, discrimination and sexualised violence at HMTM (in German).

IPP München presented the results to the public on 18 April 2024. HMTM is responding with further steps in seven fields of action.

The statement and the seven fields of action can be found here (in German).

The study was planned and implemented by the external Institut für Praxisforschung und Projektberatung München (IPP München). IPP München is an independent research institute under the auspices of the non-profit Vereins für Psychosoziale Initiativen (VfPI, Association for Psychosocial Initiatives). Since 2011, it has conducted several extensive studies in the context of sexualised violence – for example in the Odenwald School, in the field of psychotherapy or in church institutions and organisations (both in the field of the Catholic Church and the Protestant Church and Diakonie).

For the study at University of Music and Theatre, IPP has developed a customised research design and conducted it independently of our university.

As a first step, IPP München conducted qualitative interviews with university members from all status groups and developed a questionnaire on this basis. The second step was an anonymous comprehensive online survey of all university members.

The survey was aimed at all members of the University of Music and Theatre Munich, i.e. students, lecturers and employees in administration and central facilities.

For underage students in undergraduate degree courses, we also informed the legal guardians.

In the case of underage students in Junior Study Programmes (music or ballet), only the guardians were informed about the survey and could fill it out together with their children. The Junior Students themselves were not contacted.

From the cooperative degree courses with the Theaterakademie August Everding were also included. Therefore students from the fields of music theatre/opera performance, stage directing, musical, acting and wigs and make-up design were surveyed.

A total of 1,840 university members were asked to take part in the full survey.

All information provided in the course of the survey was treated as strictly confidential, will remain anonymous and is subject to data protection.
In no case is it possible to draw conclusions between answers and persons as the survey data is held exclusively by the IPP, which has no access to university’s staff or student data. The university has no access to the data or individual questionnaires, neither now nor in the future.

The detailed data protection information on surveys (German/English) can be found here.

It is a particular concern of our university to promote respectful interaction with each other and to ensure that all university members can come to class and work with a good feeling. The University of Music and Theatre commissioned the study in order to get an accurate picture of the current situation regarding abuse of power, discrimination and sexualised violence and identify areas where further improvements are necessary.

The comprehensive survey was recommended to our university by the so-called »Holzheid-Kommission«, which in 2019 reviewed the university’s handling of the incidents of sexualised violence by former president Dr Siegfried Mauser and the allegations against former composition professor Hans-Jürgen von Bose.

The study was conducted independently of our university by IPP Munich. In order to gain a good understanding of our institution, the IPP Munich was assisted by various people:

Barbara Klöver, Quality Management and Evaluation Officer, and Maren Rose, Head of Communications, were responsible for coordinating the study within the university.

On the recommendation of IPP Munich, the research team was also supported by an advisory group. This support group was appointed by the Senate of our university with people in certain functions and from all status groups. The task of the support group was to critically comment on the questions during the development phase and to consider the special features of artistic education as well as specific terminology and contexts. Furthermore, the support group suggested the people for the qualitative interviews.

The support group consisted of: Prof Saskia Fikentscher (group of lecturers and member of the Respect working group), Barbara Klöver (as coordinator; administration, quality management and evaluation officer), Dr Tobias Reichard (mid-level faculty), Constanze Richter (administration, staff council, representative), Maren Rose (administration, head of communication), Prof Dr Andrea Sangiorgio (Dean of Studies), Prof Martin Steidler (group of professors, member of the Senate), Prof Dr Sonja Stibi (Women’s Representative)/from October 2023: Prof. Dorte Lena Eilers as successor to Prof. Dr Sonja Stibi, Jana Schmid and Julia Pfänder (student council).

The process was also supported by the external psychologist and lawyer Dr Giulietta Tibone, who has been supporting our university in connection with sexualised violence and abuse of power for several years and is also available to IPP München with her specialist expertise.