Our latest updates on events and new developments.
Inclusive Mobility for students with disabilities: the InclusiveMobility.eu platform launches
6 May 2021
Testing of the platform InclusiveMobility.eu
3 March 2021
Final steps of development of the platform InclusiveMobility.eu
28 January 2021
Launch of EPFIME Research Report on Inclusive Mobility
13 November 2020
EPFIME Research Report and development of the platform InclusiveMobility.eu
26 October 2020
Call with communication and accessibile design experts
10 July 2020
Education Community Meeting
June 2020
Inclusive mobility session @ AHEAD Conference
29 May 2020
Inclusive Mobility project meeting EPFIME
21 April 2020
EUA study visit in Flanders on Inclusive Mobility
21-22 November 2019
Research Report
Find the Research Report and other interesting publications here.
Research Report
This report is a comprehensive report based on quantitative research, compiling feedback of 1.134 responses from students with disabilities, 114 higher education institutions and 23 ministries of Education across the European Higher Education Area.
The EPFIME project is a 2-year project co-funded by Erasmus+ KA3 Support to Policy reform "Support to the implementation of EHEA reforms - 2018-2020".
During this project, consortium partners and experts will examine in-depth the needs and expectations on inclusive mobility of national authorities,
students with disabilities and higher education institutions across Europe, while focusing on how national authorities and higher education institutions
can collaborate more strongly to ensure the quality and the transferability of support services for both incoming and outgoing students with disabilities
in exchange programmes.
Goals
Outcomes of the project.
Policy report
Publish a policy report on existing national regulations on Inclusive Mobility.
Guideline
Create a guideline on Inclusive Mobility to
stimulate higher education institutions to
implement a sustainable inclusive mobility
strategy at institutional level.
Online platform
Develop an online platforminclusivemobility.eu where
everything is to be found about Inclusive Mobility for
national authorities, practitioners, and students with
disabilities.
Policy recommendations
Publish policy recommendations to practitioners in Higher Education across Europe on how to implement
a sustainable framework on inclusive mobility at European / national / regional / institutional level.
Self-assessment tool
Create a self-assessment tool for national authorities
and higher education institutions to monitor policies
on Inclusive Mobility around Europe and compare
their own policies, knowing easily where they stand.
Timeline
Upcoming events and milestones of the project.
Spring 2019 - Spring 2020
Research on Inclusive Mobility
Research on inlcusivemobility.eu across Europe, gathering feedback and expectations from all stakeholders (students with disabilities, Higher Education Institutions, Ministries for Education).
Spring-Summer 2020
Final development phase of the platform
The platform inlcusivemobility.eu is being developed based on the inputs received from all stakeholders.
Autumn 2020
Testing with end-users
A testing round will be organised with end-users to test the new Inclusive Mobility website.
October/November 2020
Report & recommendations
Public release of the policy recommendations and the research report on Inclusive Mobility in Europe, together with a European framework on Inclusive mobility.
February/March 2021 (date to be confirmed)
Launch of the website and final conference
Public presentation of the EPFIME project and dissemination of its outcomes. The new Inclusive Mobility website will be live, replacing the current MappED! platform and extending its functionalities. Guidelines for HEIs and a self-assessment tool for HEIs and Ministries for Education will also be published at that time.
Stay tuned!
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Partners
How is this project related to MappED!?
The MappED! project was run between 2015 and 2017. As a result of that project we have the MappED! mapping tool. To date, this website and its corresponding app have been used to map the accessibility of institutions and their buildings. The EPFIME project will leverage the data collected throughout these years and will integrate it into its website. The moment the new Inclusive Mobility website will be live, it will replace the current MappED! and extend its functionalities.
Inclusive Mobility for students with disabilities: the InclusiveMobility.eu platform launches
The EPFIME consortium worked intensively these past two years to develop the inclusivemobility.eu platform and various inclusive mobility tools that were presented and launched during our project’s final conference of 22 April. The project built on the Bologna priorities and created tools to support higher education institutions, national authorities and agencies to foster inclusive mobility for students with disabilities.
The inclusivemobility.eu platform, at least!
What is “Inclusive Mobility”? It means creating and ensuring adequate conditions to learn, work, or volunteer abroad for people with fewer opportunities, by addressing diverse support needs. A needs-based approach is adopted to ensure safe and exciting mobility periods abroad while remembering that needs are not to be generalised, and rather they are individualised and specific.
To better understand the significance of this definition, let’s see what Barbora has to say based on her experience:
Based on desk research, large scale surveys (1,134 responses from students with disabilities, 114 higher education institutions and 23 ministries of Education across the European Higher Education Area) and focus groups, the EPFIME team developed various resources.
The platform and co-creation: by the users for the users
The platform inclusivemovility.eu contains information about Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), testimonials, and the inclusion and support measures adopted by the different European Higher Education Area countries. Students can find information on how to go abroad while HEIs, national agencies and authorities, are invited to register and add their information to be featured in the platform and support to have a more inclusive mobility.
The presentation of the inclusivemovility.eu platform led by the project partner Erasmus Student Network during the conference showcased more in detail the various component of the platform and how they work highlighting the intuitiveness of the tool and the added value that the various resources and section offer to foster mobility for students with disabilities, HEIs, national agencies and authorities.
The components include an interactive map, step-by-step guides on how to go abroad, testimonials from students, and easy to access information on support measures that the registered education institutions can share within the platform.
The contribution of education institutions will be key to ensure that the platform has relevant information to be shared with end-users. The platform is Institution-based and not faculty-based to foster a comprehensive and institutional approach towards the platform.
One of the conference’s participants asked if the disability definition includes mental health issues. Valérie Van Hees, project coordinator from SIHO, explained that a broad definition of disabilities is used and that the natural development of the platform, which will be part of the PLAR-4-SIMP project, is precisely working to include all people with fewer opportunities.
Institutions can register as such via an institutional email that is then approved by the back-end in a few days.
Workshop time! An institution’s journey to inclusivity and empowerment via the platform
During the Conference, the participants were involved in an ad hoc workshop designed to showcase the outputs available on the platform, including the guidelines, the inclusive mobility framework, the inclusive mobility toolbox, the self-assessment tool and more.
The workshop imagined the journey of a higher education institution wanting to strengthen their inclusion capacity. By accessing the platform and starting with the self-assessment tool the institution can understand its current strengths and weaknesses and receive tips and guidelines in the form of action points.
The institution in our journey, be it a HEI, national agency or Ministry of Education, then proceeds to the inclusive mobility framework selecting the inclusion objectives and receiving further action points based on the selected goals to improve their inclusion both for ingoing and outgoing students.
The institution is now ready to find out more about inclusive mobility and proceeds toward the mobility toolbox which offers a wide range of resources to foster inclusive mobility based on the type of institutions, needs, country, sector, target area and more. The toolbox is a repository for publications, reports, videos and more based on the
EPFIME research report’s identified key areas to foster inclusive mobility for students with disabilities.
The toolkit was presented in the conference showcasing the potential that it has to inspire stakeholders with its resources. The content of the toolkit is continuously updated and institutions that register on the platform can also share their resources contributing to enriching the tool and sharing their experience. A selection procedure has been put into place to ensure quality, relevance and adequation of the resources shared by institutions.
Thanks to these tools, the institution manages to improve its inclusivity in mobility and is empowered to develop its own resources. Hence, the institution is ready to give back and using the upload resource page of the toolbox section of the platform, the institution shares their content and resources contributing to the sustainability of the platform, to the sharing of good practices, and to foster inclusive mobility. The material submitted by the institution is assessed by SIHO to ensure quality and after acceptance the toolbox resource library is fully enriched allowing for the virtuous cycle to start again benefitting other institutions like the one of our journey.
More inclusivemobility.eu benefits
The next piece of the inclusivemobiliy.eu infrastructure comes from the Guidelines targeting HEIs. The Guidelines are specific for students with disabilities but the areas addressed are also adaptable to other contexts. The Guidelines focus on key areas, namely inclusion in mobility strategies, collaboration, information provision and mobility promotion, grants, and support service offering advice, tips, tricks and examples of good practices for institutions at whatever stage of the inclusive mobility journey.
Panel discussion
The conference’s panel discussion involved Nadia Manzoni representing the European Commission DG EAC, Els Titeca as representative from the Cabinet of the Ministry for Education in Flanders, Valérie Van Hees as the EPFIME project manager and Anthony, student alumni from KU Leuven who shared his testimony and experience of going to study abroad. The panel was moderated by Magalie Soenen, Policy Advisor on Higher Education at the Flemish Ministry for Education and Training.
Anthony opened the panel discussion reflecting on the support he received when going abroad during his mobility experience to highlight the challenges he encountered and how a platform like inclusivemobility.eu could have helped greatly.
Nadia Manzoni talked about the new Erasmus+ programme focusing on the theme of inclusivity and specifically the importance of mobility for students with disabilities. The new Erasmus+ programme gives financial incentives and opportunities for people with extra needs. For Manzoni, a lot of work needs to go into awareness raising to address the challenges faced by students with disabilities. The collaboration between the sending and hosting inclusion needs to be strengthened to put in place the right level of support.
Els Titeca then shared her point of view as a government representative on the importance of ensuring that students with disabilities go abroad. Students with disabilities are impacted positively by mobility as it gives them advantages such as higher academic and employment achievement, better language skills, confidence and personal development. Students with disabilities testify to a more normalised self-perception after the mobility making them feel more similar to their peers.
Students with disabilities, higher education institutions, national agencies and Ministries face barriers like the lack of information on grants and support services. During the EPFIME research and the collection of testimonials it emerged that all stakeholders missed information on how support services are organised abroad. As a government representative Els is happy for the platform which facilitates the acquisition of information on regulations and support services to clear the path for all students to go abroad.
Valérie talked about the tool she’s most proud of. For her, inclusivemobility.eu will be a unique platform for each stakeholder with the key information that it will gather. As a project coordinator and as SIHO coordinator the framework and self-assessment tool are very important for her because they contribute to a shared commitment. the broad-basis factor of the platform. The inclusivemobility.eu tools help stakeholders to reflect and start to exchange points of views, experience and to dialogue focusing on concrete situations with tailor-made solutions for each country.
Anthony ends by adding that he did not think that it was possible for people like him to have an Erasmus mobility experience. Discovering that it was not only possible but recommended was a game-changer for him. For him, the inclusivemobility.eu platform with tools for self-assessment and guidelines has the potential to bring a lot of positive changes. He was particularly touched by the efforts of the EPFIME project team with “institutions gathering together to make this possible, to make it easy for others, I can only be grateful for this work.”
What we see here with inclusivemobility.eu are tools that make mobility easier for people with disabilities. To me as a blind person it has been heartwarming to witness this process and I’m very curious to see how it will evolve in the future. My journey would have been much easier with tools such as the inclusivemobility.eu, unifying all the info I needed. Thank you for your work!”
What are you waiting for?
If you’re an institution, your cooperation will be key to make a dramatic positive change for students like Anthony and future professionals like Barbora. Start your inclusivity process and register your institution at the platform!
The inclusivemobility.eu platform and its tools will continue to be updated and expanded to other fewer opportunity groups.
The conference has been recorded and is available on the project conference website.
Date: 6 May 2021
Testing of the platform InclusiveMobility.eu
As has been communicated earlier, the platform InclusiveMobility.eu, the frameworks, self-assessment tools and guidelines are in the final stages of development.
On the 23rd of February, SIHO organised a big round of testing, in order to make sure that the platform will work as expected.
All the Flemish universities and Universities of Applied Sciences higher education institutions took part in this, as did the Flemish Agency for Erasmus+ EPOS vzw and the Flemish Ministry of Education and Training.
The participants in the testing looked at things like how to use the tools, how to find information on the platform and how to use the "self-assessment tool, frameworks and guidelines".
The self-assessment is a tool which will allow staff at Higher Education Institutions, Ministries of Education and National Agencies to reflect on the inclusiveness of their current practices with regards to mobility and receive tips on how they can improve them.
The results from the testing were mostly positive; the participants generally appreciated the tools and found the structure to be rather clear. Still, there are a few things that will need to be improved or clarified before the official launch of the platform.
This feedback has been recorded and the consortium is now working on this, making sure that the final tools will be fully functional by the time of the launch.
The platform and tools will be launched at the final conference of the project, taking place online on the 22nd of April 2021. More information about this event will be available on this website soon.
Date: 3 March 2021
Final steps of development of the platform InclusiveMobility.eu
On the 28th of January 2021, the EPFIME consortium held its 5th meeting online. Several agenda points were presented and discussed to best plan the remaining months of the project. The main outcomes of the discussions are:
The platform InclusiveMobility.eu enters the final steps of development. New information is being added such as information for students going abroad and related inclusion support available from EU and national authorities, FAQs, terms and conditions, etc. Below you can find a sneak preview of how the platform will look like.
The platform will be launched at the final conference of the project, taking place on the 22nd of April 2021. More information about this event will be available on this website soon.
The "self-assessment tool" prototype, currently developed by SIHO, was shown to the partners. This tool will allow staff at Higher Education Institutions, Ministries of education and National Agencies for Erasmus+ to fill in different information about their current practices with regards to inclusion in mobility and receive tailored inputs and tips on how they can improve them.
A draft of the guidelines for HEIs staff on Inclusive Mobility was also presented by AHEAD and feedbacked by partners. The guidelines will also be published at the end of the project in April 2021.
The partners also discussed the evaluation of the November webinar where the Research Report and Recommendations on Inclusive Mobility was presented. You can download the documents and see the whole webinar if you are interested in the topic of inclusive mobility.
The project partners are now working on finalising the platform, making sure it will be fully functional and properly tested by the time of the launch in April.
Date: 28 January 2021
Launch of EPFIME Research Report on Inclusive Mobility
Valérie Van Hees, Coordinator of the Support Centre Inclusive Higher Education (SIHO) and Dominique Montagnese, Inclusive Mobility Expert, Support Centre Inclusive Higher Education (SIHO) presented the research report and recommendation and good practice booklet based on online surveys , focus groups and desk research, compiling feedback of 1,134 responses from students with disabilities, 114 higher education institutions and 23 ministries of Education across the European Higher Education Area.
The definition for ‘Inclusive Mobility’ followed in the research refers to creating adequate conditions to learn, work, or volunteer abroad for people with free opportunities, by addressing their diverse support needs. An individual needs-based approach is key to answer to the needs of the students.
Despite their low numbers in participation, a high number of students with disabilities want to go abroad; the main motivators are similar to other students.
Inclusion is not sufficiently present in mobility strategies in order for targets to be set and data to be collected to monitor participation.
Insufficient institutions provide information in an accessible way to students with disabilities.
In 62% of the countries, national grants and support services for students with disabilities are transportable abroad during an exchange programme.
32% of students with disabilities did only disclose their disability to the home institution when going abroad. The reasons for not disclosing a disability vary;, 39% of respondents indicated they were not asked, 34% did not think it was important, while 25% did not want to be labeled.
Satisfaction with offered student housing is positive, but students point out the lack of available information regarding the accessibility of transport, housing, campus and support with everyday life necessities.
There is still a lack of awareness and cooperation between disability officers, international officers and support structures at large.
The speakers were joined by a panel of policy experts to share their points of view on the findings presented. Elena Tegovska, Team leader for Higher Education, European Commission, DG EAC. indicated that the European Commission will be working towards supporting universities to place Inclusion at the centre of their mobilities. “Inclusion has been reinforced in the next Erasmus Charter for Higher Education, completed with an Inclusion Strategy for the Erasmus+ programme 2021-2027. Good practices as shown during this session, will be included to share among higher education institutions across Europe.”
Els Titeca, Counselor on Higher Education, Internationalisation and Europe at the Cabinet of Vice Prime Minister Ben Weyts, Flemish Minister of Education, reflected on the Flemish Ministry’s internationalisation strategy, called ‘Brains on the Move’; “The Flemish Government strives for 33% of all outgoing mobile students to belong to underrepresented groups, among them students with disabilities. At least 25% of the Flemish outward grants should be awarded to students from underrepresented groups. This encourages universities to work on identifying the students from underrepresented groups and encourages those students to apply for a mobility grant. In the academic year 2018-2019, 22% of the initial mobile degrees are attributed to students from underrepresented groups. The strategy ‘Brains on the Move’ contains goals until 2020. So we will work on a new strategy for the future where we will use the lessons learned from the EPFIME project”.
The panel session was moderated by Magalie Soenen, Policy Officer, Flemish Ministry of Education and Training, project coordinator of EPFIME, who indicated that “The high interest of more than 600 participants shows there is a high interest to support students with disabilities to participate in mobilities.”
EPFIME Research Report and development of the platform InclusiveMobility.eu
The EPFIME project continues. On the 26th of October, the project consortium had another meeting, which - you guessed it! - was held online. The most important topics to discuss were the release of the upcoming EPFIME Research Report and the development of the platform InclusiveMobility.eu.
The EPFIME Research Report is a comprehensive research on the topic of inclusion and mobility in Europe and the first of its kind. It will be presented at a webinar, taking place on the 9th of November. This webinar will have speakers from the Cabinet of Education of the Flemish Government, the European Commission and SIHO. The session will be moderated by a representative of the Flemish Ministry of Education and Training. International sign language interpretation and live captioning (EN) will be provided at the webinar.
The platform InclusiveMobility.eu keeps being developed. When ready, it will have an overview of Higher Education Institutions and national Ministries/National Agencies, with extensive information about their policies and approaches to inclusive mobility. The platform will be presented at a conference in March or April next year. It is currently unclear whether it will be done online or physically.
Apart from that, a "self-assessment tool" is being developed by SIHO. When this is ready, various staff at Higher Education Institutions will be able to fill in different information about their practices, and compare how well they are doing with regards to inclusion in mobility.
Keep your eyes on this website. Shortly you will find the Research Report and other interesting publications here.
Date: 26 October 2020
Survey
Take part in the Inclusive Mobility Survey.
The deadline to submit the survey is closed.
Thank you for your interest and participation in the Inclusive Mobility Survey!
We are creating a report with the answers we have received and it will soon be published.
Date: Tuesday, 17 September, 2019
Call with communication and accessibile design experts
On the 10th of July 2020, the InclusiveMobility consortium carried out a consultation with experts in web design and accessibility appointed by our partners. This session initiated the testing phase that the future InclusiveMobility.eu website will go through until the end of 2020. During the upcoming months, more tests will be done with end users and communication experts to give you the best user experience possible.
Apart from minor comments and suggestions, the experts found it particularly important that the site is readable through screen readers and that navigation through the site is clear.
What the experts say
Kate Wood, Communications Officer at Irish Universities Association
“The web is now more than ever an essential tool in many aspects of our lives. Therefore, it is imperative that the online world be always conscious of accessibility for all, in order to provide equal access and opportunity to people with disabilities. The development of inclusivemobility.eu will help further enrich the university experience of students with disabilities and aid in breaking down the barriers to accessible information and online interaction.”
Sabina Achim, Communication Manager at Erasmus Student Network
“Students with disabilities face various unexpected barriers when deciding to pursue an exchange abroad. One of them is the lack of information regarding the accessibility of the potential receiving institution and city. It is therefore vital to examine the needs of students with disabilities and institutions across Europe, and map out the policies and support services available, developing recommendations and guidelines. This is what the inclusivemobility.eu portal aims to achieve.”
Date: 10 July 2020
Education Community Meeting
Erasmus Student Network (ESN) has an active "Education Community", which consists of national-level Presidents and Education Officers, in other words those who are usually the most interested in education and policy. In June there was an Education Community meeting planned to take place, but as many other events in 2020 it was moved online.
One session was on the topic of social inclusion and what ESN does to promote inclusive mobility. Both InclusiveMobility and the newly-launched PLAR4SIMP were presented, followed by a discussion. There is a great interest in the projects and it is especially important to have the wider network of student organisations interested in the platform, since they will play a key role in promoting it once it is up and running.
Date: June 2020
Inclusive mobility session @ AHEAD Conference
On the 29th of May 2020, SIHO will present the EPFIME project to the conference “Through the looking glass” organised by AHEAD. The conference, which was originally planned to take place in March 2020 in Dublin (Ireland), has to be moved online due to the COVID-19 outbreak. It is now taking place as a series of 10-week webinars between March and May 2020.
During this session on Inclusive Mobility, Valérie Van Hees and Dominique Montagnese will share a first glimpse of the EPFIME research results, as well as some updates regarding the EPFIME project, and the platform inclusivemobility.eu. Participants which are composed of disability officers and inclusive educators will have the opportunity to exchange ideas and insights on their own practices to ensure the participation of students with disabilities in study abroad programmes.
Date: 29 May 2020
Inclusive Mobility project meeting EPFIME
On the 21st of April 2020, the EPFIME consortium organised its third transnational partners’ meeting. Led by the Flemish Ministry of Education and Training and SIHO, the meeting took place fully online due to the COVID-19 situation.
The meeting was the occasion to discuss the research results from the EPFIME surveys, define the structure of the soon-to-be-published research report, policy recommendations booklet, guidelines and self-assessment tool. Partners have also agreed on creating the first European framework for Inclusive Mobility, that will provide concrete guidance and action points for the different stakeholders involved in creating inclusive mobilities.
Last but not least, updates were shared on the development of the platform inclusivemobility.eu and a concrete timeline has been agreed on.
The policy booklet and research report will be launched in autumn 2020, while the other deliverables will be ready for the beginning of 2021.
The platform inclusivemobility.eu and the guidelines will be launched officially at the beginning of 2021.
Stay tuned!
Date: 21 April 2020
EUA study visit in Flanders on Inclusive Mobility
On 21 and 22 November 2019, the European University Association (EUA) conducted the HERE Study Visit 'Inclusive mobility: from good intentions to measurable outcomes' for Higher Education Reform Experts (HEREs) and National Erasmus Plus Offices (NEOs) in European neighbourhood countries (former Tempus countries) in Brussels. The aim of the conference was to gather participants to exchange about policies and practices in Higher Education around inclusion in mobility programmes. Attended by more than 60 participants, it was a very successful event! SIHO and the Ministry of Education and Training from Flanders were both present to present their practices, the EPFIME project and the platform inclusivemobility.eu.
The HERE study visit took a system approach, demonstrating how the Flemish Ministry - Department of Education and Training, SIHO and Flemish universities are strategising and tackling the topic of inclusion in internationalisation and mobility. Given that inclusion and mobility is a relatively incipient topic for many universities, the purpose of the event was to look at it from the lense of developing and implementing institutional and national policies and initiatives. The study visit also discussed current EU priorities for inclusion and mobility, how they are reflected in EU programmes, and the results of a SPHERE study that has been commissioned to assess how Partner countries are reacting/adapting to this.