Tuning Activities

• May 2016  First working paper was released at the homepage of Mori Arinori Center for Higher Education and Global Mobility

• January - March, 2015  “Competence survey on Globally-required Abilities by GLU 12 WG Universities” was conducted.

• July 16, 2015  The 8th Tuning WG² Meeting Agenda
  1. Presentation about the result of the competence survey
  2. Discussion about application of the competence survey for education practice
  3. Future prospects of the competence survey
• March 19-20, 2015  Seminar “Modernizing degree programs in global context” by the delegates of Tuning Academy, Robert Wagenaar (University of Groningen) and Pablo Javier Beneitone (University of Deusto)

• February 6, 2015  The 7th Tuning WG Meeting Agenda
  1. University subject numbering and international comparison of syllabuses: Project at the University of Tokyo
  2. Report on the progress of the competence survey
  3. Tuning Academy in Japan
• January - March, 2015  “Competence survey on Globally-required Abilities by GLU 12 WG Universities” was conducted.
• October 17, 2014  The 6th Tuning WG Meeting Agenda
  1. Tuning Japan: Being part of global process
  2. For further collaboration among GLU12 (Content details, methods and schedules of the competence survey)
  3. Visit to Tuning Academy
• July 10, 2014  The 5th Tuning WG Meeting Agenda
  1. Tuning case study: “Campus Asia” of the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy, Hitotsubashi University
  2. About future cooperation (Competence survey through universities collaboration)
• May 16, 2014  The 4th Tuning WG Meeting Agenda
  1. Double degree programs at Tokyo Institute of Technology and Tsinghua University
  2. Credit transfer and Tuning
• April 1, 2014   With Tuning as a core activity, Mori Arinori Center for Higher Education and Global Mobility was founded at Hitotsubashi University.
• March 7, 2014  The 3rd Tuning WG Meeting Agenda
  1. Presentations by three member universities where preparations for Tuning are underway
  2. Syllabus design and credit transfer for Tuning
• February 2, 2014  The 2nd Tuning WG Meeting Agenda
  1. Seminar on Governmental policy on global skills mobility and higher education internationalization
  2. Workshop over general and subject-specific competences
  3. Proposal for a joint study by GLU12 universities
• December 16, 2013  The 1st Tuning WG Meeting Agenda
  1. What Tuning is
  2. Discussion about a direction of the Tuning WG
  3. Reports by institutions that have acknowledged importance of Tuning (Science Council of Japan, University of Tsukuba, Hitotsubashi University)
• November 7, 2013  Under the Education Reform and Promotion Committee, Tuning WG consisting of 12 Japanese research universities was established with Hitotsubashi University as an organizer.
• Hitotsubashi University launched “Tuning Japan: Research, Action, Promotion of Tuning”.

¹Competence Surveys

The competence survey is what has been known and done in other countries as “Tuning Pilot Study.” The survey comprises questions on expected knowledge and skills, and is asked to major stakeholders of university education, namely, students, academics, graduates, and employers. Through the survey, we expect to find and/or attain the following: 1) the list of definitions for competences acquired from university education by subject area; 2) the similarities and differences between the perceptions of competence for each subject area from different stakeholders; 3) the fulfillment of the university's accountability and designing curricula that reflect the demands of the society and economy, curriculum improvement, and education content development; 4) the strength and characteristics of each university; 5) the improvement of each subject's compatibility and equivalency by referring to the common framework used by the tuning world network, which enabled the Tuning Working Group to compare the results with that of other regions; 6) the improvement of academic credibility of a joint degree or a dual degree by repeating the processes above.

²Tuning WG

Tuning WG was established in December 7, 2013 within the Education Reform and Promotion Committee, guided by Japan Ministry of Education. The committee consists of 12 universities including Hokkaido University, Tohoku University, University of Tsukuba, University of Tokyo, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Waseda University, Keio University, Nagoya University, Kyoto University, Osaka University, Kyushu University and Hitotsubashi University. With Hitotsubashi University as an organizer, the Tuning WG is designed to promote the international compatibility of university education, the systematization of curricula, adapting syllabus according to international standards, the credit transfer system, and tuning practice. The WG also studies and examines how these efforts will contribute to the enhancement of interinstitutional and interregional mobility of students and faculty which the WG hopes to lead to the global academic advancement in both research and education. Furthermore, the Tuning WG conducted a “competence survey” for the first time in Japan from 2014 to 2015. The primary aim of the survey and research was to establish an interactive base for Japanese universities so that we can collaborate with world tuning networks in the design of an internationally compatible curriculum.