The project is focused on enhancement of an access to higher education for students with special needs in line with the Erasmus+ aim to support the equity and inclusion of all people in education. The objective of our project is systematic development, testing, and examination of effective inclusive methodology to ensure access for under-represent groups in HE, in particular through student-centred learning and by providing relevant support, guidance and counselling. In accordance with the project aim to cover all aspects of universal accessibility of HE, the project partners have different scope of specific expertise: (P1) Centre of Design for All (CEDA), Faculty of Architecture, STU in Bratislava is focused on Universal Design of inclusive educational environment ; (2) Teiresias - Support Centre for Students with Special Needs at the Masaryk University in Brno; (P3) Association of Providers of Services for University Students with Special Needs (AP3SP) is the Czech Republic; (P4) Department of Architecture at the University of Chieti-Pescara, connected with the Italian national network of university disability offices, is focused on ergonomic design and way-finding systems for persons with visual impairment. One of the expected results of the project is development of common framework for national strategies and action plans with aim to increase the access, participation and completion rates of disadvantaged groups in higher education (HE). The project results and outputs will be used for effective mapping and evaluation of overall accessibility of HE by Access Audits Tool. Within the project we will create the tools for improvement of the support service for students with special needs in HE, including access to information (university websites, AIS system, Virtual guide). The important output of the project will be the publication of case studies of inclusive higher education in Europe as collection of examples of the best practices that can help other universities to make accessibility improvements. The overall methodology for creation of accessible HE will be elaborated as “Handbook on Universal Accessibility of Higher Education“ that can be used at various European universities. The expected impact of the project is to raise awareness concerning the importance of accessible higher education for students with special needs to facilitate their transition to the working process, and to increase understanding and better ability of university staff to respond to the diversity of the students. Zhrnutie projektu Projekt je zameraný na zlepšenie prístupu k vysokoškolskému vzdelaniu pre študentov so špeciálnymi vzdelávacími potrebami v súlade s cieľom programu Erasmus+ podporovať rovnosť a začlenenie znevýhodnených skupín do vzdelávacieho procesu. Cieľom nášho projektu je systematický rozvoj, testovanie a preskúmanie účinných metód na zabezpečenie prístupu k vysokoškolskému vzdelávaniu pre študentov so špeciálnymi potrebami, a to najmä prostredníctvom humano-centrických metód a poskytovania relevantnej podpory a poradenstva. V súlade s cieľom projektu pokryť všetky aspekty všeobecnej prístupnosti vysokoškolského vzdelávania, majú jednotliví projektoví partneri rôzny rozsah odbornej znalosti: (P1) Centrum bezbariérového navrhovania CEDA na Fakulte architektúry STU v Bratislave je zamerané na tvorbu inkluzívneho vzdelávacieho prostredia metódou Univerzálneho navrhovania; (P2) Teiresias - Stredisko pre pomoc študentom so špeciálnymi potrebami na Masarykovej univerzite v Brne; (P3), Asociácia poskytovateľov služieb pre študentov vysokých škôl so špeciálnymi vzdelávacími potrebami (AP3SP) v Českej republike; (P4) Katedra architektúry na Univerzite v Chieti-Pescara , ktorá je napojená na Taliansku národnú sieť univerzitných centier podpory študentov so zdravotným postihnutím. Jedným z očakávaných výsledkov projektu je vytvorenie spoločného rámca pre národné stratégie a akčné plány s cieľom zvýšiť prístup, účasť a úspešné ukončenie vysokoškolského štúdia študentov zo znevýhodnených skupín. Výsledky projektu budú použité na efektívne mapovanie a vyhodnocovanie celkovej prístupnosti vysokoškolského vzdelávacieho prostredia. V rámci projektu budeme vytvárať nástroje na zlepšovanie služieb a podpory pre študentov so špeciálnymi potrebami, vrátane prístupu k informáciám (univerzitných webových stránok, AIS systému). Dôležitým výstupom projektu bude publikácia prípadových štúdií inkluzívneho vysokoškolského vzdelávania v Európe. Celková metodika prístupnosti bude spracovaná vo forme príručky pre tvorbu všeobecne prístupného vysokoškolského vzdelávania. Výstupy projektu by mali zvýšiť povedomie o význame prístupného vysokoškolského vzdelávania pre študentov so špeciálnymi v potrebami s cieľom uľahčiť ich prechod do pracovného procesu, a zároveň zlepšiť schopnosť univerzitných pracovníkov podporovať študentov so špeciálnymi potrebami.
The UNIALL project "Accessibility of Higher Education for Students with Special Needs" was focused on developing a methodology and tools to ensure inclusive higher education, in line with the Erasmus + objective to support equality and inclusion of disadvantaged groups in the education process. The aim of the UNIALL project was to systematically develop, test and review effective methods to ensure comprehensive universal accessibility of the academic environment (including architectural, information and communication accessibility), in particular through student-centered methods and the provision of support and counseling services. In line with the project's objective to cover all aspects of universal accessibility of higher education, the partners with a variety of expertise have been involved in the project: (P1) The Center of Design for All (CEDA) at the Faculty of Architecture of the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava is focused on inclusive design of educational environment ; (P2) Teiresiás - The Support Centre for Students with Special Needs at Masaryk University in Brno is aimed at the provision of support services and information and communication accessibility, including accessibility of study materials; (P3) The Association of Service Providers for Students with Special Needs in Higher Education (AP3SP) in the Czech Republic has several experts from support centres for students with special needs; (P4) The Department of Architecture at the University of Chieti-Pescara is focused on human-centered design and ergonomics, and is linked to the Italian national network of centers for the support of students with disabilities. The main activities of the UNIALL project were focused on the realization of several outputs: (1) Monitoring and evaluating the current state of accessibility of the academic environment (including legislative and national documents) in the project partner countries; (2) Process of adapting psychometric tools to diagnose learning disabilities of students in higher education; (3) Creating the framework and reference material for national action plans to ensure inclusive higher education in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; (4) Creating the tools to improve support services for students with special needs – for example: on-line dictionary in sign language and virtual guide of the building accessibility; (5) Case studies of inclusive higher education in selected European countries; (6) Publication “Inclusive Higher Education”, which provides a comprehensive methodology for the creation of inclusive tertiary education. The UNIALL project outputs and tools can help to ensure comprehensive access to the higher education and to increase the participation of students with special needs in higher education. Within the project, various tools have been developed to improve information and communication accessibility so that students with sensory impairments have access to information and study materials. Therefore, the UNIALL project also has an impact on enhancing digital integration and increasing the use of assistive technologies in education. Effective learning through student-centered methods, tested within the UNIALL project, has an impact not only on students with special needs but also on other students, because these methods (e.g. Universal Design for Learning) provide more flexibility and adaptability to different requirements and the individual abilities of all students (taking into account their working pace, communication skills, preferred learning styles, etc.), thus increasing the effectiveness of the teaching of diverse groups of students. The UNIALL project outputs help to raise awareness of the importance of inclusive higher education for students with special needs in order to facilitate their transition to the work process and at the same time to improve the ability of academic staff (including management of universities) to respect the diversity of students and their specific needs by providing adequate study support. The significant impact of the UNIALL project is related to the creation of a framework and background for national action plans to ensure an accessible academic environment in cooperation with national authorities and stakeholders. Implementing action plans into national policies and legislative provisions so as to ensure inclusive higher education will have an overall societal benefit for individual European countries.