Music-related professions are undergoing major changes. While the areas in which music professionals specialise can generally be clearly defined at an institutional level, these same areas tend to overlap at the level of individual job profiles. This results in what is known as a 'patchwork' career (Mills et al., 2006). For instance, many people are active in both professional artistic performance (e.g. concerts) and music education (e.g. music schools). Consequently, there has been a strong upward trend in further education programmes in artistic and music education contexts at music colleges in recent years. However, unlike in other fields of academic activity, further education at music universities has hardly been established or institutionalised to date. Therefore, during this period of educational and social change, it is crucial that music colleges identify opportunities to enable individuals to continue their education in their area of expertise (Bosch Sanfélix & Ahner, 2025). As the University of Music Trossingen develops new formats, it is breaking new ground in terms of both content and institution. Artists, music education specialists, project managers, concert organisers, music journalists and freelance musicians are becoming the focus of further education opportunities in music-related fields.In this context, the focus is on the concepts of 'lifelong learning' and 'lifelong education' (UNESCO, 2022). These concepts encompass perspectives on inclusion, personal and professional development, and active participation in an ever-changing society (UNESCO, 2022; Howard Morris et al., 2024). For this reason, when developing specific academic further education programmes in music-related areas, Trossingen University of Music always has two objectives in mind: On the one hand, the content of academic further education programmes must be closely related to the respective pedagogical or artistic practice. This quality criterion requires the close integration of musical practice with undergraduate and postgraduate courses offered by the university. This enables mutual learning and synergy between students and continuing education providers, which benefits everyone involved. On the other hand, academic continuing education should always send a message to society, making stakeholders aware of what music and music-related fields can achieve in today's world (Bosch Sanfélix & Ahner, 2025).This short paper presents the concept behind Trossingen’s pilot project and three innovative ideas that are currently being developed. This will try to demonstrate the potential benefits and challenges of implementing an academic further education programme at music universities.