International Summer School

What can music tell us about the world?

Music is everywhere — in the cities we live in, the communities we belong to, the politics we debate, the technology we use and the cultures we share.

Join The University of Manchester for Music Moves, an international summer school that explores the many ways music shapes — and is shaped by — the world around us.

Based in one of the world's great music cities, you'll spend time with academics from across the University of Manchester's Humanities Faculty, exploring music from different perspectives. You might investigate how music transforms cities, how it travels across borders, how it creates communities, how the music industry makes and distributes money, or how music becomes a powerful form of identity, protest and social change.

And this isn't just about sitting in a classroom.

You'll experience Manchester for yourself — its music, culture, neighbourhoods, creative spaces and people — while developing new ways of thinking, researching and asking questions. You'll take part in interactive academic sessions, explore the city, meet students from different countries and experience university life in one of the UK's most vibrant and internationally connected cities.

Follow the music. Find new perspectives.

Music Moves brings together students from North America, Europe and beyond who want to do more than simply travel this summer.

It's an opportunity to:

• Explore a subject you already love from completely new perspectives
• Discover how different academic disciplines can help you understand the world
• Develop research and critical-thinking skills you can take back to your degree
• Experience Manchester — a city with music at the heart of its identity
• Meet students from different countries, cultures and academic backgrounds
• Learn from researchers working at the forefront of their fields
• Build an international network of friends and future collaborators

Whether you're studying music, business, economics, politics, sociology, geography, history, languages, education, media, arts or something completely different, Music Moves gives you a chance to follow your interests beyond the boundaries of your degree.

From Manchester to the world

Manchester has a remarkable musical story — but this summer school isn't simply about Manchester's music.

It's about the bigger questions that music makes possible.

• How does music change cities?
• Who gets to participate in culture?
• What happens when music crosses borders?
• Can music challenge political power?
• How does the music industry create value — and who benefits? 
• How does music shape identity and belonging? 
• What happens to music when technology changes the way we create and consume it?

There isn't one answer. And there isn't one discipline.

That's what makes Music Moves different.

You'll encounter ideas from across the Humanities and discover how researchers approach complex questions from different perspectives — while experiencing the city that has made music part of its global identity.

Come for the music. Leave with new ways of seeing the world.

Music Moves is for current undergraduate students who are curious, open-minded and ready to experience something different this summer.

You don't need to be studying music. You just need to be interested in the questions that music raises.

Come to Manchester. Meet the world. Follow the music.