One of the main objectives of the EUNI4ALL project was to identify, diagnose and analyze the quantity and quality of European universities in terms of the level of inclusion in undergraduate and graduate education, so it was necessary to take a representative sample of universities in the European Union. To this end, at the first meeting of the project, the distribution by country for the study was agreed upon.
Each partner identified and selected from each of the previously assigned countries at least two public or private universities to participate in the project. For this purpose, a professional researcher was appointed to identify the universities, based on different inclusion criteria that make these universities a benchmark and susceptible to be studied.
In the first phase of the study, each partner identified at least two public or private universities per country. For the selection of universities, we used a list from the EU Commission on all universities receiving students with disabilities, and two from SEPIE on the European universities receiving more number of students with disabilities and the top 40 EU institutions receiving the most students in mobility programmes. In addition to these criteria, each partner contacted experts who suggested other universities. Subsequently, each partner contacted some of the listed universities and proposed them to complete the initial questionnaire.
A total of 63 universities have provided data for this study so far. 24 of them have filled in a “long” questionnaire with more than 150 questions related to 38 indicators. 7 universities have completed a “short” questionnaire with questions related to 14 indicators, all taken from the “long” questionnaire, and 33 have provided us with data on the most relevant information in case a student with a disability wants to inquire and/or contact them directly.
However, more universities will participate in the future and some universities that completed only the most relevant information are invited to complete the long questionnaire in the future.
c. Identification of inspirational practices
One of the main objectives of the EUNI4ALL network is to elaborate an European Guide of Inclusive Universities that focuses on inspirational practices in the field of university inclusive education. To advance towards this goal, the results obtained from the study of the universities (quantitative and qualitative) has served to identify which universities have inspirational practices in terms of key institutional policies (accessibility, normative and operational framework, training and awareness) access, university life (learning and education, participation, internships, research, international mobility) and graduation.