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Tuning USA
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and Outcomes Main Page
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Sponsors:
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Lumina Foundation for Education initiated this project.
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| Funders: |
Lumina Foundation for Education
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| Key Staff: |
Principal advisers are Tim Birtwistle, a Bologna expert and emeritus
professor at Leeds Metropolitan University in the United
Kingdom; Clifford Adelman, senior associate, Institute
for Higher Education Policy; William Evenson, an emeritus physics
professor, former university administrator and consultant to the Utah
State Board of Regents; Robert Wagenaar, a professor at the University of
Groningen in The Netherlands, and co-coordinator of the projects Tuning
Educational Structures in Europe, Tuning South-East and Eastern Europe,
Tuning Latin America, Tuning Russia, and Tuning Georgia; and Tim
Birtwistle, a Bologna expert and professor at Leeds Metropolitan
University in the United Kingdom. Foundation contacts for the project
are Kevin Corcoran, program director; and Marcus Kolb, program
officer.
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| Goals/Orientation: |
Tuning USA is a faculty-led pilot project designed to define what
students must know, understand, and be able to demonstrate after
completing a degree in a specific field. Tuning USA methodology is based
on similar work to increase the transparency around what a degree
represents under Europe's Bologna Process.
Tuning involves creating a framework that sets forth clear
responsibilities for institutions and establishes clear learning
expectations for students in each subject area, while balancing the need
among programs to retain their academic autonomy and flexibility. The
objective is not to standardize programs offered by different
institutions, but to better establish the quality and relevance of
degrees in various academic disciplines. Lumina enumerates the following
benefits arising from the Tuning process:
- Making higher education more responsive to changes in knowledge and
its application.
- Establishing the relevance of postsecondary programs to societal
needs and workforce demands.
- Aligning the roles of higher education institutions.
- Facilitating retention, especially among students from underserved
groups, by creating clear pathways to degree completion.
- Simplifying the process for students transferring credits between
institutions.
- Increasing the emphases on lifelong learning and important-but-often
undervalued transferable skills.
- Increasing student engagement in the learning process.
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| Work Plan: |
Lumina Foundation for Education initiated Tuning USA in December
2008. Following a planning session, attended by higher education
officials from several states, the foundation sought proposals. Lumina
asked states to recruit at least two subject-area teams that included
both faculty members and students. Each team includes representatives
from several institutions, including a flagship campus. Public and
private not-for-profit institutions are participating. In March 2009,
Lumina awarded Indiana, Minnesota, and Utah grants to offset project
costs. The three state teams have met repeatedly during the course of
the project. In November 2009, Lumina awarded the state of Texas
additional money to join the Tuning USA effort.
The state teams function as study groups that explore the design,
phases and outcomes of Tuning in Europe and elsewhere. While assessing
the potential of the Tuning approach, state teams may make reasonable
modifications in consultation with Lumina or its consultants to make the
process more worthwhile in their respective settings.
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| Accomplishments: |
The project has support from the Utah State Board of Regents; the
Indiana Commission for Higher Education; the Minnesota Office of Higher
Education; and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. The states
have selected the academic disciplines on which they are focusing during
the project and have recruited or are in the process of recruiting
faculty from those disciplines to participate.
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| Upcoming Activities: |
Lumina Foundation for Education expects the Tuning process to include
input via surveys from students, recent graduates and employers. State
teams also will map graduates' employability in each Tuning subject area
to positions in the labor market.
Texas is expected to begin work by mid-2010. By the end of 2010,
state teams in Indiana, Minnesota and Utah will provide Lumina with:
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| Web Address: |
www.luminafoundation.org/our_work/tuning/
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| Revised: |
03/30/2010
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and Outcomes Main Page
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