Engelsiz Üniversite Birimi |
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Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi |
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Towards Inclusive Universities by Empowering Disabled Students
1. Summary of the action Type of Project: Technical Cooperation and Networking Project Duration of the action: 16 months Total eligible cost of the action: EUR 351,110 Amount requested from the Contracting Authority: EUR 315,999 % of total eligible cost of action (two digits): 90,00%
Objectives of the action: Overall Objectives: Sustaining information exchange on disabled students between universities; Improving management capacities of university disability coordinators; Enhancing success of disabled university students. Raising disability disclosure rates; Linking generations of disabled students to improve university entrance rates; Reducing gender gap among disabled university applicants; Implementing and strengthening common standards for supporting disabled students; Developing labels of ethical and transparent inclusiveness at universities Specific Objective: To establish and develop long-term sustainable technical cooperation for disabled student support between universities in Turkey, Bulgaria and the Netherlands Partner(s) & Legal Status: Partners: Mustafa Kemal University (Public State University); ODTÜ (Public State University); Neofit Rilski South West University (Public State University); Dutch Expert Centre for Studying with Disability in Higher Education (Foundation) Associates: Yüzüncü Yil University (Public State University); Gazı University (Public State University); Netherlands Institute for Higher Education, NIHA (Foundation); EDF-FEPH (International Non Profit Organization)
Target group(s): 20 disabled students in MKU (Hatay), 30 disabled students in ODTÜ (Ankara), 80 disabled students in Gazı University (Ankara), 10 disabled students in YYU (Van), 40 disabled students in Neofit Rilski University (Bulgaria), 60 000 disabled students in the Netherlands (all universities work with the Dutch Expert Centre), 5 Support Specialists for disabled students in Turkey and Bulgaria, 20 other Support Specialists for disabled students to be short-term experts during the workshop in Bulgaria
Final beneficiaries: Other Support Specialists for disabled students from other EU and Candidate countries, Other disabled students from EU and Candidate Countries, Administrative staff from partner universities, Academics teaching disabled students at partner universities, Researchers on Disability and Education Policies, Higher Education Institutions, EU and National-level Policy-Makers in partner countries, EU-level and national NGOs for disabled people, Families of disabled people, Non-disabled students from partner universities, visitors to the Final Exhibition
Estimated results: Greater capacity building of partner universities; sustainable relations between partners and associates; enhanced visibility of EU activities in Turkey; institutionalized technical cooperation through Disabled Students Support Specialists Task Force; open dialogue between disabled students at EU-level to improve current and future situation for next generations; greater public awareness of disabled students’ access to education; common management standards for Support Specialists of disabled students; integrated approach on “inclusive” universities in Europe; dissemination of project outputs and guarantee of EU visibility and multipliers effects to larger target groups and beneficiaries.
Main activities: 1. Launching the Project and Establishing its Management 2. Exchange of best practices for disabled student support at university 3. Creation of a Task Force of disabled university student support specialists through an E-Network 4. Empowering disabled students with Communication Skills 5. Launching the EU-level platform of University disabled students 6. Establishing Common EU-level Management Standards to Support Disabled Students at University 7. Final Dissemination and Networking Event
Region covered by the Action: Turkey: Mediterranean region (Hatay), Central Anatolia (Ankara), Bulgaria: Southwest region (Blagoevgrad), The Netherlands: Utrecht region (Utrecht)
2. Relevance: Please describe the following: 2.1 How relevant is your proposal to the needs and constraints of the target country(ies) or region? Since June 2006, all Turkish universities are legally required to establish a Disability Support Unit, to ensure that their disabled students are given equal access to the education offered. Without any precedents in Turkey or Bulgaria, looking for experience developed over a decade in the Netherlands, at their national level disability support centre, this project will give access to expertise while allowing debate for Turkey and Bulgaria to identify local needs and how to best develop support systems according to available and possible resources and culturally suitable.
2.2 What are the problems to be resolved and the needs to be met? Disabled students are severely underrepresented at university level in Turkey. While 12% of the population is disabled, approximately 5% of disabled children attend primary school. At university, only 0.1% of students have reported a disability. As seen in other countries (Britain, Netherlands), the establishment of effective support systems can result in 100 fold increase in the figures. To achieve this in Turkey and Bulgaria, disabled young people need to see and believe that universities are equipped to provide the support they need to have equal opportunities to succeed academically, with enhanced employability after graduation. Thus effective Disability Support Systems needs to be established at universities.
2.3 Who are the actors involved (final beneficiaries, target groups)? The main target groups are: 20 disabled students in MKU (Hatay), 30 disabled students in ODTÜ (Ankara), 80 disabled students in Gazı University (Ankara), 10 disabled students in YYU (Van), 40 disabled students in Neofit Rilski University (Bulgaria), 60 000 disabled students in the Netherlands (all universities work with the Dutch Expert Centre), 5 Support Specialists for disabled students in Turkey and Bulgaria, 20 other Support Specialists for disabled students to be short-term experts during the workshop in Bulgaria. Disability affects all aspects of life: A disabled person in employment sustains a family, rather than being a burden; they contribute to the economy and to society, by undermining prejudice. Anyone in authority who understands the potential of a disabled child can facilitate their progress: teachers, lecturers who believe they can succeed will give them confidence to aim higher. Administrators can design accessible systems and procedures. Class mates who cooperate with confident successful disabled students will develop positive attitudes to disability, and become more conscious member of society, able to ….
2.4 What are the objectives and expected results? The main objectives consist in: Sustaining information exchange on disabled students between universities; Improving management capacities of university disability coordinators; Enhancing success of disabled university students. Raising disability disclosure rates; Linking generations of disabled students to improve university entrance rates; Reducing gender gap among disabled university applicants; Implementing and strengthening common standards for supporting disabled students; Developing labels of ethical and transparent inclusiveness at universities. The more specific objective is to establish and develop long-term sustainable technical cooperation for disabled student support between universities in Turkey, Bulgaria and the Netherlands. Disabled students from 3 countries, 6 universities, will have greater understanding of the complex dynamics of exclusion. With enhanced social skills, their will better express their needs and negotiate for suitable alternatives, be aware of European objectives and how some are achieved, be trained in making presentations and ready to talk with school audiences in their localities, to convey strong images of successful disabled people. Disability support specialists at 4 Turkish universities will have recognized status. Identifying international standards, this project will define the concept of University level Disability Support in Turkey and in Bulgaria, and allow Dutch participants to reflect on the universality of their practice. The participation of colleagues from Bulgaria and the Netherlands will objectivise developments. Inclusive systems, procedures, and alternatives at 5 universities will enable their disabled students to reach their potential. These universities will be models for others.
2.5 What is the added value of the action (what adds the action by reference to (central or local) government action and actions implemented by non state actors)? Is gender equality and equal opportunity respected? The essence of this project is equal opportunities for a universally disadvantaged group. National legislation now requires equal opportunities in education for all disabled learners; the Higher Education Council (YÖK) is required to develop a not yet established national level Disability Advisor Unit. The national Employment Office has targets for increasing numbers of disabled people in employment; currently low qualification levels of disabled people affect employers’ expectations. More confident and skilled university graduates will be key agents in reversing that image. Significant gender imbalance (1/4 of disabled candidates in the ÖSS University Entrance Exam are female) will be addressed through highlighting achievements of disabled women, particularly university graduates.
3. Methodology and Sustainability: Please describe the following: 3.1 What are the main project activities? Is appropriate credit given to EU support and visibility elaborated in Proposal? The main activities are: 1. Launching the Project and Establishing its Management; 2. Exchange of best practices about organizing the support to disabled Students in Higher Education; 3. Creation of a Task Force through an E-Network of specialists supporting disabled students at university level; 4. Empowering disabled students with Communication Skills; 5. Launching the EU-level platform of disabled university students; 6. Establishing Common EU-level Management Standards to Support Disabled Students at University; 7. Final Dissemination and Networking Event The main activities will bring together disability support specialists from 6 universities in 3 countries to establish standards and operational procedures for effective support of the full range of disabled students who may study at their institutions. A European wide call for examples of good practice will involve colleagues from all European countries (founder, new members, candidates), and link in with complementary Actions, completed or currently ongoing, supported by EU or local sources. This project is the extension of an EU Leonardo project (January 2007). The involvement of Disabled Students in the project will ensure that real needs, rather than theoretical aims, are targeted. The Forum will provide a link between disabled students wherever they are, providing peer support for otherwise isolated individuals, some with rare conditions little understood by others. The forum will also be an accessible source of information and data, constantly updated and developed through international contributions. The Logo of the Project and initial Communication tools will be made ready at the beginning of the Project to ensure sufficient visibility at the Conferences, Workshops, Trainings and other events. Besides, other significant means (conferences, training materials, publications, etc) will be used to valorize the activities and to systematically mention the EU funding origin.
3.2 Who will be your main implementing partners, what is the length of your relationship with them and how will they be involved in the project? Our main implementing partners will be: ODTÜ, Neofit Rilski South West University, and the Dutch Expert Centre for Studying with Disability in Higher Education. Moreover, we will have the following associates: Yüzüncü Yil University, Gazı University, Netherlands Institute for Higher Education, EDF-FEPH. Two partners (ODTÜ-Gazi) have cooperated for 10 years. The project manager and deputy manager have collaborated intensely on an EU Leonardo da Vinci project since October 2006. Immediately following the LdV dissemination activity, a visit by the ODTU coordinator to Hatay University generated a positive response, disabled students being identified and support mechanisms being established within the university administration. This project builds on the intention of Mustafa Kemal University to develop a model Disability Support Service.
3.3 How will the project achieve sustainability? Is the project respecting the sustainable development and environmental preservation? The project will achieve financial, institutional-level and policy-level sustainability: the resources of partner universities will continue to be used for further trainings and activities (training rooms for disabled students created under the project will be used extensively); the structures set-up under the action will also remain as of the Task Force, the EU Network of Disability Coordinators and the Disabled Students’ Platform; finally, the EU and national policy-makers will also use the developed standards to improve codes, legislation and positive measures regarding disabled students inclusiveness at universities.
3.4 Will it have multiplier effects? A Turkish Expert Centre for Disability in Higher Education, which must be set up by the Turkish Higher Education Council (YÖK), will carry on the work of this project, making use of information, communication tools and standards agreed on in this project. The standards and criteria developed in this project will form the basis for national standards at Turkish and Bulgarian universities, and will be further developed, over a greater geographical area by inviting representatives from all EU countries (and beyond) to contribute. Training methodology developed in this project will be repeated for disabled students at other universities, and at meetings of Disability Support Coordinators (particularly those recently appointed) for other universities, and a version will be designed for disabled people wishing to enter university. The training handbook will be further developed to address ethical, technical and other developments, through online participation of Disability Support Professionals EU wide. Workshops raising awareness of the different needs of disabled students and how these can be addressed will be arranged, will be developed from handbook information and material from the exhibition, for volunteers, non-disabled student class mates and peers, students of education (as future teachers), academic, managerial and administrative staff, service provision staff (health, library, dormitory, transport, etc.) interested members of the public, potential employers, NGOs, etc. The Disabled Students will lead EU Youth projects with different partners will further develop life long learning skills and generate new ways of empowering peers and future generations. The skills and understanding developed by disabled students during this project will give them better employment chances and they will be better able to retain jobs and perform well in employment. As more confident employees, they will be role models affecting all around them. Colleagues will pass on the message that ‘Disabled people CAN succeed’ to family and friends.
4. Expertise and operational capacity: Please describe the following: 4.1 What is the experience of your organisation in project management? We, Mustafa Kemal University as the applicant, have been leading several projects until now. Among them, a pilot project in a Leonardo da Vinci Program as the Promoter Organization: “Development of Class and Lab Experiments Model Library to Enhance the Quality of Engineering Education” (2005). Our involvement was not only at a managerial level but also technical level. At the managerial level, our team had the responsibilities to ensure that all duties are performed on time by all the partners, to organise the Steering Committee meetings, to handle the financial reports, etc. At a networking and communication level, we were also in charge of interacting with the target groups of the Project on a regular basis, disseminating Project results at National and EU levels, and evaluating the project progress establishing different strategies.
4.2. What is the experience of your organisation and your partner(s) of the issues to be addressed? We have informally supported disabled students in the past. In June 2007, Mustafa Kemal University appointed a Disability Support Coordinator, with a Special Education expert advisor and a student counsellor. A university level committee has been appointed and the developments have support from the highest level of university administration. This Disability Support Unit has been set-up after the organisation of a seminar about “Building up support systems for disabled students” (5-6 June 2007). The main Turkish partner, ODTU, is a pioneer in the field, having established in 2004 the first support system for disabled students by working with individuals and developing with them more suitable alternatives. Their Disability Support Coordination Unit is also liaising with Disability Coordinators at numerous universities abroad and potential equivalents in Turkey. For instance, ODTÜ was the coordinator in 2006-2007 of an EU Leonardo da Vinci program TR/06/A/F/EX1-0728 in which 5 Turkish participants visited the University of the West of England in Bristol (UK) to learn how disabled services are organized, providing legally required support. Neofit Rilski South-West University has successfully realized European projects related to disability. For instance, in July 2006, with 5 other EU countries (Spain, Bulgaria, Italy, Finland and Estonia), Neofit Rilski has led the project “SignaEuropa IV” (Sliven, Bulgaria). It delt with problems of communication, professional realization and social integration of Deaf and hard of hearing young people aged 14 – 25.
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E N G E L S İ Z Ü N İ V E R S İ T E B İ R İ M İ |
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Engelsiz Üniversite Birimi Telefon: 0 (432) 225 12 80 Faks: 0 (432) 225 16 22 E-posta: eodb@yyu.edu.tr Web: www.eodb.yyu.edu.tr |
