What is it and who participated?


The Tuning Asia-South East Project is a project run by the Tuning Academy with the ASEAN University Network acting as a facilitator. Its goal was to build new curriculums and revise current ones to be more relevant to society’s changing needs and to be more regionally compatible to encourage regional mobility. Designed to promote regional and international collaboration, the project provided a platform for ASEAN universities to engage in academic policy dialogue and harmonize their degree programs to enhance opportunities for student mobility. 

The project was co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. 23 ASEAN universities from 7 ASEAN member states took part in this program with technical assistance from 6 European partners. 

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When did it take place?


This project was coordinated by the University of Deusto and took place from 15 October 2016 – 14 October 2019. The meetings were attended by a combination of ASEAN and European higher education institutions along with various professional organizations to provide input in order to generate study programs that are even more relevant to society. 
 

  Date Venue Participants
First Meeting 02-07 May 2017 Deusto University, Spain 50 participants
Second Meeting 15-19 October 2017 University of Malaya, Malaysia 48 participants
Third Meeting 20-24 March 2018 Jakarta, Indonesia 58 participants
Fourth Meeting 17-22 September 2018 Chulalongkorn University, Thailand 146 participants
Fifth Meeting 24-27 February 2019 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 65 participants
Sixth Meeting 07-10 October 2019 Chulalongkorn University, Thailand 111 participants

 

How does it work?

The curriculum refinement was done using the Tuning method. The Tuning methodology is described as such:

Tuning is a methodology with clearly designed steps but with a dynamic perspective that allows for adaptation to different contexts. The methodology has a clear objective: to build compatible and comparable descriptions of degrees that are relevant to society and that are intensively focused on maintaining and improving quality. This methodology explicitly calls for the process to value and preserve diversity coming from the traditions of each country. These requirements demand a collaborative methodology, based on a consensus being developed by experts from backgrounds as varied as possible.

These experts are expected to have the capacity to understand the negotiable and non-negotiable geographical realities as much as they must understand essential elements of the discipline and the degrees themselves. The Tuning methodology has four lines of work which help to organize discussion in specific subject areas: identifying relevant generic and subject specific competences and elaborating a meta-profile for the subject area; exploring how a mutually agreed cumulative credit system can facilitate student mobility; exchanging good practices in approaches and techniques in teaching learning and assessment; and finally exploring how quality assurance frameworks can be used at programme level to enhance student learning.

Taken from Tuning Academy (http://tuningacademy.org/what-is-tuning/)

What was accomplished?


The project has delivered significant results, including:
3 Reference books that detail the process of creating a relevant competency-based degree program in 3 subject areas with reference points (Civil Engineering, Teacher Education, and Medicine)
A community of Tuning practitioners consisting of 65 academic staff and 40 management staff who have knowledge and expertise on the Tuning methodology
30 study programs in ASEAN universities that are undergoing Tuning from 23 different universities in 7 ASEAN countries
A strong foundation of culture of self-reflection, knowledge, and collaboration for designing highly adaptable study programs that can always remain relevant


What’s next for Tuning in the ASEAN region?


The Tuning Asia-South East Project has produced significant results, but is limited in its coverage. It has only managed to produce results in 23 universities in the region out of over 7000. However, the contributions of the project have been recognized and acknowledged by academic policy makers and key stakeholders that have been involved in the process of creating the competencies in the study programs. This provides a good foundation for the project to enter its next phase and expand its coverage to include more institutions and more subjects. The ASEAN University Network is looking forward to working with these institutions to help them create stronger study programs to elevate them onto the world stage.