2016/3/24

CHINA-EU Joint Tuning Research Project
and the Competence Survey inComparative Education
LIU Baocun
Institute of International and Comparative Education

Beijing Normal University

Outlines
 1.The Story of Tuning in China
 2. The Field of Comparative Education in China
 3. Approaches Used in the Comparative Education

Tuning Study 4. Comparative Education Tuning Consultation
 5. The Framework of Learning Outcomes 6. New Approaches Required Regarding Teaching,
Learning and Assessing
 7.Establishing the Quality Assessment andImprovement System
 8. Conclusions

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1. The Story of Tuning in China
 1.1 Early meetings
 2012.11.29. Julia Gonzalez and Robert Wagenaa

Visited MOE.
 2012.11.30. Julia Gonzalez and Robert Wagenaa
Visited IICE

 1.2 Tuning Workshop in Xi’an(2013.3.23-24)

 Education Development Research Center, MOE
 Beijing Normal University: Education
 Xi’an Jiaotong University: Management
 Tongji University: Engineering

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 1.3 Meeting and Visits in Europe
 Meeting in Brussels (2013.04. 25) during the OpenEvent of China-EU Higher Education Platform for
Cooperation and Exchange Visits to University of Ghent, University ofDeusto, University of Groningen(2013.04. 2605.02)

 1.4 First Tuning Research Project(Education) Meeting(2013.08.31.－09.01)
 Competence lists
 Structure of the competences of masterstudents3

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 1.5 Second Tuning Research Project(Education) Meeting(2013.12.01-02)
 Learning outcomes, Learning andTeaching, assessment reform, quality
assurance system, ECTS.

 1.6 China-EU People-to-people Dialogue (2014.09.

06)
 Report and discussion

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2. The Field of Comparative Education in China
 2.1 Comparative education worldwide
 Marc-Antoine

Jullian published a small bulletin
named Sketch and preliminary views of a book on
comparative education, and a series of questions on
education (1817)
 borrowing educational experiences from othercountries;
 factor analysis of different education systems;
 Theories and methodology of social science
promoted a more reflective and scientificdevelopment as an independent subject.

 2.2 Development of Comparative Education in China
 Pioneers in early 1920s.
 After 1949, research focus on the educational system,

philosophy and practice from the Soviet Union.
 In the 1960s, this field extended to some othercountries including America, western European
countries, Japan, Korea and etc.
 Negative influence of the “Cultural Revolution.
 Prosperity after 1978; 40 MA programmes and 15 Ph.D. programmes.


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 2.3 Sub-fields of Comparative Education
 foreign education

 international education
 developmental education
 comparative education.

 2.4 Features of Comparative Education as anindependent subject
 cross-county, cross-region and cross-culture cross-disciplinary
 being comparable

 contemporariness6

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 2.5 philosophy of Comparative: “International

Perspectives, Local Solutions”
 (1) to borrow foreign educational experiences toaddress the education problems in China;
 (2) to understand the common rules and the latest
trends of education development around the world; (3) to provide a platform for international
exchanges and communication in the field of
education;
 (4) to produce the originally new knowledge to thefield of education by comparison; (5) to serve as a lab for educational experiments byborrowing appropriate educational philosophy andpractice from other countries.

 2.6 peer reviewed journals
 International and Comparative Education.
 Foreign Education
 Global Education Outlook
 Elementary and Secondary Education Abroad

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 2.7 Typical Occupations of Graduates typical occupations for master graduates: civil

servants, school teachers, administrative staff,
editorial staff , research staff, entrepreneurshipand self-employment.
 typical occupations for PhD graduates: academic

faculty, civil servants, editorial staff .

3. Approaches Used in the Comparative
Education Tuning Study 3.1 The goal of Tuning The Tuning programme was introduced as an

instrument against a backdrop of the European
higher education integration (Bologna Process) toenhance the transparency, compatibility andcomparability of different national higher
education systems and match higher education
with social needs, thereby promoting theemployment and mobility of degree recipients.

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 3.2 Routes of action to achieve the goal:Seeking an European consensus on higher
education degree system based on the competenceof recipients through consultations among students,
graduates, employers, experts and scholars and otherstakeholder groups with the intention of developing
an internationally common degree meta profile.

 (1) generic competences/ transferable

skills; (2) subject-specific competences;
 (3) European Credit Transfer andAccumulation System (ECTS);
 (4) teaching, learning and assessment
methods; and (5) improving the quality of education in
the teaching process

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General pattern that can (re-)design, develop, implement andevaluate bachelor, master and doctoral degree programmes
within the EU Tuning framework

 3.3 Routes of action in Comparative Education


The Tuning study has been carried out by the Chinese teammembers of the EU-China education Tuning project for
master students in Comparative Education with regard togeneric competences, specific competences, ECTS,
teaching evaluation methods and improving the quality ofeducation in teaching process through interviews, surveys
and data analysis based on the thoughts and suggestions
from European experts under the principle of equal
partnership for mutual benefit dominated by China, withthe goal of improving the quality of education for masterstudents in Comparative Education in China within thebasic framework of the five routes of actions implemented
by the EU according to the specific situation of China.

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

Basic ideasof the Eu-China Education Tuning Project for Master
Students in Comparative Education

4. Comparative Education Tuning Consultation
 4.1 Developing the Competence Lists
 generic competences (transferable skills)
 subject-specific competences Reference with competences in EUROPE andother Tuning projects
 The Chinese context of master degree inComparative Education
 Team work of professors from different
universites

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 4.2 Developing the Competence questionnairesformulate questionnaires on generic and specificcompetences for master students in Comparative
Education

 4 four scales assessment importance or

achievement
4 represents an extremely important or high levelof importance or achievement, 3 represents very
important or general level, 2 represents a low
level,, and 1 represents a nearly zero level.

 In addition to the listed competences, othercompetences that respondents thought
necessary could be added.

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 4.3 Consultation Target Universities andstakeholders

 Beijing Normal University
 Northeast Normal University
 South China Normal University
 Southwest University
 East China Normal University

Distribution of valid respondents from different stakeholders

Respondent

Generic Competences

Scholars

66

Specific
Competences
61

Employers

230

196

Students

138

122

Graduates

213

188

Total

647

567

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 4.4 The consensus on generic and Subject

specific competences The four groups reached a consensus on theimportance of 33 generic competences and 22
specific competences surveyed
 The four groups have different opinions about

the achievement of some generic competences
and specific competences by master students in
Comparative Education.

5. The Framework of Learning Outcomes

5.1 EU Framework

Tuning defines competence as a dynamic combination of
cognitive, metacognitive skills, knowledge andunderstanding, interpersonal, intellectual and practicalskills, and ethical values, and divides them into genericcompetences/transferable skills relevant to all subject
areas and subject-specific competences appropriate for
specific subject areas according to transferability.
 If these generic competences and subject-specificcompetences are pooled into a competence circle, thecompetences for the profession and those for theacademia are two subsets, which simultaneously haveinclusion, cross and disjoint relations


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 Academic area vs. professional area andcompetences The basic task of the Tuning programme is todefine the competence circle and clarify the
relations between occupational and academic
competences to guide the development andimplementation of the entire degree programme,
thus better matching higher education with social
needs.
 It is important to develop an expected learning

outcome framework for the programme15

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 5.2 Chinese framework
 Knowledge Skills
 Attitudes and values

 International reference points have been finallyformed to the expected learning outcome of the
programme for master degree programmes in
Comparative Education from knowledge, skills,
attitudes and values according to the survey
results.

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Course Unit
/Course Module

Competence (Learning Outcome)
A

a
b

C

D

√

E

F

√

√

c
d

B

√
√

√

√
√

G

H

√

√

I

√
√

J

√
√

√

√

√

Expected overall learning outcome of a degree programme with regard to eachcourse unit (or course module)

 5.3 Learning Outcomes Statement for MA in

Comparative Education
A degree programme is built up mainly in two aspects: (1)selecting the appropriate course content based on the
expected learning outcome (international reference points);(2) defining the course module and credit to build areasonable course structure.

This link involves two core concepts, namely learning
outcome and credits. The former stands for learning
content, and the latter stands for amount of learning.

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 Learning Outcomes for the program Learning Outcomes for modules
 Learning Outcomes for courses.

6. New Approaches Required regarding
Teaching, Learning and Assessing 6.1 teaching from the traditional "chalk and talk" and"cramming" teaching methods to diversified
methods as lectures, seminars, workshops,
lectures by experts, experience sharing, casestudies, self-learning, etc.
 from textbooks to multimedia and other modern
teaching tools.
 from teacher-centered to student-centered.

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 6.2 Learning from the traditional single individual learning to

a combination of independent learning and group
work and other more diverse ways.
 from the traditional books to news, newspapers,
magazines, the Internet and other multiple
networks.
 from the traditional classroom learning toexternal visit learning, internship and other fieldwork.

 6.3 assessment
 from single assessment method and knowledge-

based examinations to a wide range ofassessment ways are used, including exam, fieldsurvey, group work, internship, seminar,
attendance, class participation paper, etc.
 from single dimension of knowledge to the three
dimensions of knowledge, competence andattitude.
 from teachers’ absolute authority to a systematic
assignment feedback system and a grade appeal
system .

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7. Establishing the quality assessment andimprovement system
 7.1 EU dynamic quality development cycle ofdegree programs under the Tuning framework

 7.2 The quality assurance system of higher

education in China

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 7.3 New approaches of quality assessment andimprovement
 student assessment of course teaching process control of quality, eg. quality monthly employers’ satisfaction assessment
 graduate satisfaction assessment

8. Conclusions
 Tuning does provide a new perspective or

methodology to identify the aims, teaching,learning and assessment of academic programs.
 There is some gaps between Europe and China (aswell as other countries or regions)in educational
ideology, but there is no ideal models of universal
applicability.
 The aims of Tuning research is not to copy theEuropean higher education model, but to develop amodel of our own based on experiences worldwide.

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Thanks for Your Attention !

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