Konur, O. (2002) Resonable adjustments for disabled international students
by higher education institutions in the UK, Admin-Ukcosa, 14 February 2002.
Ms. Coopersmith wrote in ADMIN-UKCOSA on 14 Febraury 2002 that:
"I understand from a colleague ( Disability Adviser at UNL )
that the new DDA Part 4 comes into force in September 2002. This will
require all HEI's to treat all disabled international students the same way
as home students. This will include the provision and payment of services
to these international students like Dyslexia
Tests and tutorials, readers, support workers etc. Does anyone have any
comment or advise to give on this. Can we charge additional fees for this,
can we use public funds for this - like hardship funds etc.
This message raises an important policy issue regarding the provision of
services for the international students: whether the higher education
institutions have any legal duties to provide any support at all for these
students.
The message above hints that indeed instutions have such duties starting
from September 2002.
The whole texts of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA)
(2001) as regard to higher education (and further education) as well as its
accompanying draft codes of practices for post-16 education and draft
regulations were provided full text in a relatively accessible manner with
annotations (where possible) at
http://www.student.city.ac.uk/~cx639/index.htm as a free outreach service
from a four year long personally funded research project carried out at City
University since October 1998.
The close reading of these materials suggest that only the 'less-favourable
treatment duty' would come into force in September 2002 and the 'reasonable
adjustment duty' would come into force in September 2003 and the duty to
make permanent changes to physical structure and buildings later on in
September 2004(5).
So no institution would have any duty at all to make reasonable adjustments
for any disabled students of 'home' or 'overseas' students in September
2002.
Next, nowhere in the Act, there is a provision for overseas students.
Furthermore, the justification clauses for the reasonable adjustment duty
clearly states that indeed institution has considerable discretion in this
area. For example if there is any conflict between SENDA duties and other
previous legal duties, SENDA duties are not applicable.
It is well established that overseas student may not have recourse to the
public funds while they are studying where they do not meet certain
eligibility requirements. This may also extend to the reasonable adjustment
duties. Furthermore the cost of such duties for 'home students' are
normally met by the Disabled Students' Allowances (DSA) (or equivalent in
Scotland and NI) currently administered by the local education authorities.
Any student who may not have access to such funding may not have any
further funding from institution. There may be recourse to the
institutionally administered Hardship funds. Again the 'public funding'
clause for the overseas students may apply here too. The case law on
international students have been uncompromising regarding the recourse to
public funds by internatinoal students in the UK.
The lack of such funding has been one of the major barriers for the mobility
of disabled students globally. Depending on the nature and type of
disability the cost of such provisions may cost thousands of pounds and
students may not have funds to meet such costs. Furthermore, the case law
in the US recently changed so that such disabled US students may not have
funding while studying overseas for disability related costs under the
Americans with Disabilities Act (1990). Once the final version of the Code
of Practice and regulations for the SENDA is published there may be much
certainty in this area.
Hope it helps.
________________________________
Ozcan KONUR
Postal address: Rehabilitation Resource Centre (Walmsley Building Room
W223), City University, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB, The United
Kingdom.
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Research project URL: http://www.student.city.ac.uk/~cx639/index.htm
Phone: 020 7040 0271
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