Final Conference “Making mobility programmes more inclusive for students with disabilities”

"Inclusive mobility tools make mobility easier for people with disabilities. To me as blind person it was heartwarming to witness this process and I am curious how it will evolve. My journey would have been easier with tools as such, unifying all info I needed."

Anthony

On April 22 2021 took place the conference “Making mobility programmes more inclusive for students with disabilities”, as part of the EPFIME project. 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".

More than 600 participants were present at the event, from higher education representatives working in International Relations offices or Disability/Inclusion offices, representatives of National Agencies, Ministries of Education of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), NGO representatives and students.

During the conference, several tools have been launched and presented in-depth:

  • The platform InclusiveMobility.eu
  • The Framework, Self-assessment tool, guidelines and toolbox to make mobility programmes more inclusive

The platform InclusiveMobility.eu 

The platform serves as a unique central point to find all information about Inclusive Mobility, for all relevant stakeholders: higher education institutions, national agencies for Erasmus+, ministries of education and students. Developed in cooperation between ESN and SIHO, the platform offers every stakeholder the opportunity to provide detailed in information about their strategies, processes and support services on Inclusive Mobility in the European Higher Education Area. Prospective students who are considering studying abroad will be able to access these crucial information rapidly and in a clear manner. The platform also encourages students with disabilities with clear information about existing mobility opportunities, and testimonies from other students who went abroad.

Check the instruction video below and visit the platform at inclusivemobility.eu

InclusiveMobility.eu

Video

The Inclusive Mobility framework, self-assessment tool, guidelines and toolbox

The Inclusive Mobility framework provides higher education institutions, national agencies and ministries for education with strategic objectives and concrete action points on how to install an Inclusive Mobility strategy and processes at instutional/national level.

The self-assessment tool on Inclusive Mobility, based on the framework, supports the same stakeholders in assessing their current situation and understanding better what is their current starting point.

The guidelines on making mobility progammes more inclusive for students with disabilities provide higher education institutions with concrete advice, tips and tricks on implementing the Framework and how to address areas for improvement - reducing barriers for students with disabilities on incoming and outgoing mobility programmes and contributing to successful student mobility experiences. It also contains three case studies and good practices from three institutions in Belgium, Germany and Ireland.

The Inclusive Mobility toolbox is a place to find and share useful resources on Inclusive Mobility, where anyone can contribute. A selection procedure has been put into place to ensure quality, relevance and adequation of the outputs proposed.

Check the instruction video below and visit www.inclusivemobilityframework.eu

Inclusive Mobility Framework

Video

Panel discussion on Inclusive Mobility

The conference ended with a panel discussion involving Nadia Manzoni as a representative from the European Commission DGEAC, Els Titeca as representative from the Cabinet of the Ministry for Education in Flanders, Valérie Van Hees as the EPFIME project manager and Anthony, as a 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.

You can watch the video recording of the conference here:

Video Final EPFIME conference part 1 - project activities - inclusivemobility.eu

Video Final conference EPFIME part 2 - framework - self-assessement guidelines

Video Final conference EPFIME part 3 panel discussion

More information

The EPFIME project is led by the Ministry of Education and Training of Belgium/Flemish Community in collaboration with the Support Centre for Inclusive Higher Education in Flanders (SIHO), the Association for Higher Education Access and Disability (AHEAD) in Ireland, the Erasmus Student Network (ESN), and the Irish Universities Association (IUA). Three individual experts are also providing expertise on the topic of Inclusive Mobility.

For more information about the EPFIME project or outputs, please contact the manager of the project at valerie.vanhees@siho.be.

A nice visual representation of the webinar, done by participant Camille Bullot, Head of the Student Mobility Office at Université libre de Bruxelles

A nice visual representation of the webinar of 9 November 2020, done by participant Camille Bullot, Head of the Student Mobility Office at Université libre de Bruxelles