European Union (EU) considers that education has a central role in fostering both societal and economic progress across the EU. It demonstrates that education is crucial for young people's transitions from basic education to the labor market and for their successful integration in society. Moreover, in relation with the EU roadmap, the Strategy Europe 2020 sets a target of not more than 10% early school leavers amongst the population aged 18-24. Additionally, the 8 priority areas for action in the EU Disability Strategy 2010-2020 include ‘Education and training’ whose aim is to promote inclusive education and lifelong learning for students and pupils with disabilities and to increase the number of students with disabilities who access and successfully finish their higher education. Accordingly, in the current context, it is a priority for the EU that persons with disabilities, especially the young ones, get an inclusive and quality Education since it contributes to improving their opportunities to achieve a stable and well-paid employment. The main goal of the INnetCAMPUS, regarding the encouragement of students with disabilities in the second cycle of secondary school and high school to continue their education towards University, was triggered because this group is in high risk of early school leaving, which involves a greater likelihood of experiencing social exclusion during adulthood. In this regard, the project has had the following specific objectives: - Promote transnational mobility of young persons with disabilities. - Promote access to college for students with disabilities, reducing early school dropout in this group. - Give universities the opportunity to reach future potential university students and identify opportunities for improvement in their campus, so that they are prepared to offer an inclusive university education under conditions of equal opportunities for all the students. - Improve and promote the inclusive education of persons with disabilities at the university community. - Learn from other countries in terms of support to persons with disabilities. - Disseminate the good practices among other European stakeholders. In relation to the results obtained, it is necessary to mention that the project had three parts, the development of six inclusive campuses, during two years, one in each University partner. The development and result of these mobility programs can be seen in the intellectual output number 1, 2 and 3 (pilot campuses) and, intellectual output number 4, 5 and 6 (consolidation campuses). The assessment of the participants has been positive and, the program has reinforced the motivation of young participants who subsequently manifested their desire to enter to a university as a result of this experience and some of them consider studying now in a European university. In addition, the project included the holding of three conferences: Madrid (Spain), April 2017; Granada (Spain), January 2018 and, Antwerp (Belgium), July 2018. The three of them had an important participation of universities and experts in the field of inclusive education as well of young people with disabilities. The schedule of these conferences as well as the topics can be seen at the annex of the final report (Mobility tool). We were able to identify improvement opportunities and developed protocols for universities in order to promote the effective implementation of an inclusive model of education that guarantees the presence, participation, and progress of students with disabilities. This protocol and guide’s action plan can be found at the intellectual output no. 7 “Methodological guide for an educational transition to higher education for students with disabilities”. We believe that this Guide will be used for other European universities as well by professionals that work at the educational transition to higher education level in order to facilitate an effective transition for students with disabilities from the compulsory stages of education to higher education. The results report and the Methodological guide have been disseminated in Spanish universities and a large number of European universities and the project has been exhibited in the 3rd and 4th International Congress on University and Disability, held in Madrid in 2016 and 2018 respectively. Also, a consortium of Spanish universities already published the Guide on the following link: https://blogs.comillas.edu/fei/guia-para-implantar-un-modelo-de-educacion-inclusiva/ Also, the participant’s universities partners are starting negotiations to incorporate inclusive campuses in their own countries. The Faculty of Law at the University of Lisbon (Portugal), along with the Support Network for Students with Special Educational Needs of the University of Lisbon (Red SEN-ULisboa) prepared a draft of a proposed law on university education with respect to access to higher education for people with educational needs. The draft was submitted to the government and the Assembly of the Republic (Parliament) (See, IO8). The Artesis Plantijn University (Antwerp, Belgium) pretends to organize a regional campus at their university in Antwerp, aimed primarily at young people living in the region of Antwerp. This campus would also be open to participants from a new partner from the Netherlands and to participants from Granada and Lisbon. Social media was an important asset to disseminate the project and their results. Social media and the press were the set of diffusion measures that have been used to disseminate the result of the projects (see website INnetcampus). Additionally, the conferences and workshops attended by the participating universities, as well as the use of the Erasmus Student Network ExchangeAbility project helped to reach all the target groups in order to foster the access to University of young students with disabilities. The project has had an important diffusion and we believe that is still an ambitious project to continue and make visible the mission of it, to develop more inclusive European universities and in the inclusion of young people with disabilities in higher education and a greater participation in mobility programs. The principal and secondary results, as well as the detail of the project development, can be seen on our website: https://innetcampus.fundaciononce.es/
The EU considers that education plays a crucial role in achieving economic and social development. In this sense, the main goal of the Europe 2020 strategy is to reduce the EU average early school leaving rate to less than 10% by 2020 as well as to ensure that at least 40% of the younger generation have a tertiary education. Furthermore, between the 8 priority areas, education and training is the key element in the shift towards inclusive education and lifelong learning, as well as the access and successful completion of the third level education for persons with disabilities. In this context, is a priority that persons with disabilities, especially young people, exercise their right both to inclusive education and access to higher education, which expands their job opportunities. In Europe, the early school-leaving rate is very high between persons with disabilities. More than a half of them drop out of high school and the number of University students with disabilities makes only 1.3 % of a total number students. There are many obstacles that do not let them complete their studies. The main goal of the INnetCampus project is to encourage them to continue their studies after high school, as well as to promote their access to higher education, in order to ensure their full inclusion in the society, while entering adulthood. Moreover, the aim is to enhance the participation of persons with disabilities in international mobility programs, giving them the opportunity to acquire transversal competences offered by this type of programs. In addition, the project’s final long-term goal is to ensure quality education for persons with disabilities, in order to give them access to better job positions, as well as to increase European Universities’ awareness of the importance to open their doors to persons with disabilities and to be in compliance with the CRPD. In order to achieve the aforementioned goals, the following actions were taken: six Campuses (mobility experiences of young persons with disabilities in three countries), coordinated by the ONCE Foundation and held at three partner entities (University of Granada, University of Lisbon and Artesis Plantijn University College). Each University was responsible for the management and organization of the Campuses. Moreover, the project served as a gathering point for producing ideas in order to improve its realization, thanks to several partner meetings held at different Universities. In this sense, two International Conferences were organized in the framework of the project (Madrid 2017 and Granada 2018) with 135 attendees. The Conferences offered a unique opportunity to exchange experiences between partners, as well as to increase their project’s impact by inviting experts in inclusive education to share their knowledge. The project was finalized with the European Conference on Inclusive Education held in Antwerp, with a large participation of the representatives of European institutions, departments and organizations that are working in this field and having set mutual goals in order to continue progressing. Moreover, many intellectual outputs were created: six documents with the experiences of Inclusive Campuses, a “Methodological guide for an educational transition to higher education” and a publication titled “Inclusion of students with disabilities into Universities: mobility program experience”, which contains program’s analysis and impact. All the aforementioned documents were widely disseminated by ONCE Foundation and the partners. In regard to the Inclusive Campuses as the most important activity, were first three pilot Campuses, and then, 3 consolidated Campuses. They were held in the following order: - 3 pilot Inclusive Campuses held in Granada, Lisbon and Antwerp (July/September 2016); - 3 consolidated Inclusive Campuses in the same cities (July/September 2017). The students took part in a variety of activities such as academic, vocational guidance and cultural and leisure activities. At the end of the project, all participants filled out a qualitative questionnaire that revealed that their positive experience exceeded their expectations. The project included the Universities at a high level, with the participation of University high representatives, and the President of the University in the case of Granada, as well as representatives of political and educational institutions of the aforementioned countries.