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The name Tuning was chosen for the project to reflect the idea that universities do not look for uniformity in their degree programmes or any sort of unified, prescriptive or definitive European curricula but simply for points of reference, convergence and common understanding. The protection of the rich diversity of European education has been paramount in the Tuning Project from the very start and the project in no way seeks to restrict the independence of academic and subject specialists, or undermine local and national academic authority.
Tuning Educational Structures in Europe is a university driven project which aims to offer a universal approach to implement the Bologna Process at the level of higher education institutions and subject areas. The Tuning approach consists of a methodology to (re-)design, develop, implement and evaluate study programmes for each of the Bologna cycles.
Earth Science Subject Area Group (ESSAG) (Annex 1), originally known as the Geology Subject Area Group, has been part of the Tuning Project since its inception. At a very early stage there was agreement on three aspects of Earth Science within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Firstly, there was a consensus on the competences necessary to produce a graduate Earth Scientist accompanied by the realisation that we could each learn from the richness and diversity of other Higher Educational Systems in Europe. However, we were faced with the challenge of trying to formulate this accord and we trust that this document may go some way to achieving this goal. Secondly, the enormous breadth of subjects that fall within the remit of Earth Science (let alone the wider Earth System Sciences) meant that the ESSAG was extremely careful not to recommend a ?standard curriculum?. Nevertheless we tried to elucidate the fundamental underlying Generic and Subject Specific competences which are required to study the Earth. Finally, we are adamant that any Earth Science training programme should include an appropriate amount of field work, particularly at the Cycle 1 level. We believe that it is impossible to properly analyse and interpret field based data, whether collected directly or remotely, without an understanding of its inherent limitations.