The aim of ACCESS4ALL is to promote the educational and social inclusion of under-represented groups as well as of non-traditional learners, thereby broadly satisfying one of the main priorities being called for in the Erasmus+ programme and addressing one of the important features of it: “promoting equity and inclusion by facilitating the access to learners with disadvantaged backgrounds and fewer opportunities compared to their peers”.
There are 4 specific objectives:
- to establish a map of the institutional policies for attending to under represented groups in relation to academic access and success,
- to establish guidelines to be implemented by higher education organisations to promote initiatives aimed to encourage the access and successful development of students who are under-represented in universities,
- to co-create strategies and measures promoting the access, continuation (and success) of vulnerable students and non-traditional learners at university,
- to create a laboratory for the creation of innovative and flexible strategies in order to promote the commitment of Higher Education institutions to the most vulnerable student groups.
At the end of the project we hope to encourage to HEIs to improve their practices to deal with non-traditional learners in vulnerable situations and to improve their access and retention at university. On completion of the project, we expect partner institutions to implement efficient strategies and policies to facilitate the social inclusion of students and head of departments and vice-rectorate of students’ affaires to include in their agenda measures to improve university access and retention. In addition, as a follow-up process to the project we expect the network created during the project lifetime between different stakeholders at regional and European level to represent a reference point for other institutions in relation to social inclusion issues.
Project website: http://access4allproject.eu