About the Journal

Focus and Scope

Tuning Journal for Higher Education (TJHE) is a biannual peer-reviewed and Open Access journal that publishes in English original research studies and reviews of student-centred learning and outcome-oriented education reforms at university level, with reference to the national, regional, and international environments. Its main objectives are:

To provide a platform whereby excellence in teaching, learning and assessment in higher education is promoted through research publications.
To serve as a platform for students, teachers, policy makers, administrators, and academics across societies, cultures, professions, and academic disciplines in order to engage in constructive debate on new approaches, methods and tools on teaching, learning and assessment in competence-based and student-centred curricula in higher education.
To promote research and to subject the tools developed in different higher education projects – including but not limited to Tuning projects – to full academic scrutiny and debate with a view to fostering continuous innovation in higher education and the professional development of teachers and researchers.

Contribution Topics

The Journal welcomes contributions on the following topics:

1. Competence-based learning in higher education

Teaching, learning and assessing: theories, policies, and practices
Processes, environments/contexts and experiences of (outcome-oriented) learning
Subject-specific good practices of teaching, learning and assessment in higher education
Generic/General skills and competences in higher education
Curriculum design, implementation and enhancement
Quality assurance strategies, mechanisms and approaches
Integration and support to the implementation of national reform agendas
Change management at strategic and degree programme level

2. Academic teachers’ professional development and teaching competences

Scholarship of teaching, learning, organising, and assessing
Teachers’ professional development strategies and challenges

3. Cooperation and partnership building

Higher education profiling and employability in an interdependent world
Inter-university cooperation and partnership in higher education
University-business cooperation: work-based learning strategies, approaches, methodologies and challenges

4. Emergence and development of higher education areas

Internationalisation, sustainability, and local ownership in higher education
Recognition challenges and experiences in national and international perspectives
Convergence in higher education and related challenges (diversity and local traditions, interculturality, …)
Students’ and stakeholders’ participation in higher education
Transitions and challenges to and from higher education (admission from secondary education and other learning paths; preparation for the job market)
Role of overarching qualifications frameworks and meta-profiles
Further emerging topics in the higher education scenario worldwide

5. Higher education in times of emergencies

Higher education (HE) strategic and operational response to emergencies, disasters, pandemics, conflicts and other crises
HE delivery and quality assurance in times of epidemics and pandemics
Staff support and experience during national and/or international crises
Strategies to support students during enforced change and/or crises
COVID-19 impact on and implications for higher education

Publication Frequency

Tuning Journal for Higher Education (TJHE) is a joint academic publication of the University of Deusto (Spain) and the University of Groningen (Netherlands).

It is published by the University of Deusto on behalf of the two institutions. It appears twice a year, in May and November.

Currently, Journal items are published collectively in both digital and print formats.

The Journal publishes both thematic and unsolicited contributions on competence-based (higher) education.

The first issue of the Journal was published in November 2013. It discussed whether building new profiles and new generations of graduates is the right solution for some of the pressing educational needs of contemporary societies.

The second issue appeared in May 2014 and addressed the theme of competence-based learning from a global perspective.

Subsequent issues have covered various aspects of competence-based education such as curriculum reform for modernising higher education in an increasingly interdependent world, challenges and opportunities for curriculum development, and implementation and impact of Tuning competence-based approach in different parts of the world.

The Editorial Board welcomes contributions, research articles and case studies, on these and other themes related to values, needs, and prospects for building appropriate student profiles for a better world.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides full and immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Its content can be lawfully distributed and reused in any medium only for non-commercial purposes, without prior permission from the Publisher or the author; provided the original publication source is properly acknowledged and any changes to the original work are indicated clearly and in a manner that does not suggest the author’s and or Publisher’s endorsement whatsoever.

Production, Publication, and Distribution

Under the coordination of the Managing Editor (ME), accepted manuscripts are copyedited for publication. For each copyediting round, authors normally have up to three (3) working days to act upon suggested changes. Once copyediting is completed, the ME assigns a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to each paper before moving it to the typesetting and proofreading stage. By email attachment, authors receive PDF proofs for final check (of basically typographical and formatting errors), altogether with the copyright transfer form (to be completed, dated, signed, and returned to the ME). They are expected to give their feedback within three (3) working days of receipt. Exceptionally, more than one round of proofreading by authors may take place. Substantive changes to the content and or structure of the manuscript at this stage require the approval of the Journal editor.

The responsibility to check the proofs rests primarily with the author(s). Neither the Journal editorial staff nor the Publisher can be held responsible for errors that remain in the published version and which the author(s) should have amended.

Final proofs (as checked by the author(s)) are published as a journal issue, first online (in PDF and HTML formats) and then in print format. Upon online publication of each issue, automatic notifications are sent from the Journal platform to authors, editors, reviewers, and registered users who have chosen to be notified. New issue content metadata are subsequently submitted to various indexing and cataloguing services providers.

Only a limited number of print copies are made available for internal distribution (to authorities, libraries, records and archives services, and visiting researchers) within the two Tuning Academy institutions. Depending on availability, free print copies are also provided to authors, reviewers, section editors (of each issue), editorial board members, and key strategic partners of Tuning Academy.

Registration Form for Reviewers

Users of the OJS of Tuning Journal who register or have already registered themselves as “reviewers” are kindly requested to complete and submit online the corresponding form in order to help the editorial team in selecting suitable reviewers for the Journal. Each Issue of the Journal will contain an acknowledgement note with the list of reviewers who will have helped with its production.

Registration Form for Reviewers (download)

Research Article Review Form

As indicated above (under the 'Peer Review Process' section), Reviewers are required to use the standard form designed for the evaluation of research articles. There are two versions of the form: an online version and a downloadable one in PDF, WORD, and XLSX formats. Once logged on the system, the Reviewer has two options. He/she can complete the online version and submit it online. Alternatively, the Reviewer can download the form in any of the three formats, complete it, and upload it to the OJS platform for the attention of Advisory Editor responsible for the review process of the assigned manuscript.

Research Article Review Form (Word) (download)
Research Article Review Form (PDF) (download)
Research Article Review Form (XLSX) (download)

Sources of Support

Tuning Journal for Higher Education (TJHE), Tuning Journal in short, benefits from the support of the University of Deusto and the University of Groningen, as well as the wider global Tuning Community.

Journal History

Tuning Journal for Higher Education (TJHE) was officially launched on Wednesday, 21^st November 2012 in Brussels (Belgium), at a general Tuning meeting. Its first issue was published in November 2013.