INCLUSION 2.0
Policies, practices, and cultures of schools for everyone
ACCESS4ALL
CONFERENCE
Good practices for equity and inclusion in Higher Education
Presentation
Since 1998, access to Higher Education has been emphasised as a a central tenet for European-level policies by the Committee for Higher Education and Research. Recommendation by the Council of Europe states that “All who are able and willing to participate successfully in Higher Education should have fair and equal opportunities to do so” and “Efforts to maintain and raise the quality of Higher Education systems should include the criterion of effective access offered to all groups in society as well as that of excellence in teaching and research”. Accordingly, many universities in Europe are currently reviewing teaching policies and learning strategies and considering the implications of student diversity for educational practices.
ACCESS4ALL (http://access4allproject.eu) is an international project supported by European Union and focused on enabling the development and exchange of policies and practices aimed to improve access to and success in Higher Education. Target groups of the project are non-traditional learners (i.e. part-time students, those with demanding family responsibilities, adult learners) and young people from marginal or disadvantaged groups (i.e. immigrants, Roma, young people affected by the financial crisis).
Laboratory for Policies and Practices of Social Development in Higher Education
The conference will help participants evaluate institutional policies and good practices developed by HE organisations in Europe to foster the educational and social inclusion of under-represented groups as well as of non-traditional learners. The conference pursues four specific objectives:
• to establish a map of the institutional policies for attending to under represented groups in relation to academic access and success
• to establish guidelines to be implemented by HE organisations to promote initiatives aimed to encourage the access and successful development of students who are under-represented in universities
• to co-create strategies and measures promoting the access, continuation (and success) of vulnerable students and non-traditional learners at university
• to create a laboratory for the creation of innovative and flexible strategies in order to promote the commitment of Higher Education institutions to the most vulnerable student groups.
Through international comparison and case analysis provided by researchers and experts from six European countries, the conference will address one of the important features of the Erasmus+ programme: “Promoting equity and inclusion by facilitating the access to learners with disadvantaged backgrounds and fewer opportunities compared to their peers”.
University of Bergamo
Department of Human
and Social Sciences
27 September 2016
