Are there barriers to the inclusion of disabled people in HE?
Available now – a new report which examines the higher educational
aspirations of disabled people, and the barriers that some disabled people
face as they progress from Further Education (FE) to Higher Education (HE).
“Aspiration raising and transition of disabled students from FE to HE” is
the final report of a literature review and scoping study that was
commissioned by two of the UK education funding councils: the Higher
Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Learning and Skills
Council (LSC). The research was carried out jointly by the National
Disability Team (NDT), Skill: National Bureau for Students with
Disabilities, and researchers from Anglia Polytechnic University (APU).
The report:
– identifies the key issues relating to the aspiration of disabled people
to HE and their transition from FE to HE
– highlights existing initiatives that address HE aspiration and FE/HE
transition issues
– investigates the lessons that can be drawn from the experiences of
disabled people
– highlights gaps in knowledge
– makes recommendations to inform funding councils’ future policy
development
This report will be of particular interest to funding councils and other
policy makers, for instance those involved with the new Aimhigher
programme or with the Widening Participation (WP) agenda. Furthermore, the
initiatives highlighted throughout the report will aid staff in Further
Education Colleges and Higher Education Institutions; in Aimhigher regions
and areas; and in organisations such as the Connexions Service and the
Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) Services to identify ways they can
develop their provision for disabled people.
Go to http://www.natdisteam.ac.uk/datanews.php?
db=NDT&t=News&month=09&id=135 for free access to the Aspiration and
Transition report
And finally…. to answer the question posed at the beginning of this text –
“Are there barriers to the inclusion of disabled people in HE?” - the
literature presented in this report suggests that some disabled people do
indeed face additional barriers in their progression to HE compared to
their non-disabled peers. Furthermore, HE is not considered as an option
by all disabled people who could benefit from a HE programme and who have
the ability to complete a HE course. To discover more, just read the
report!
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