Celebrating Diversity, Innovations for Inclusivity and Equality in Higher Education 2nd Edition

Diversity and social inclusion are important topics on the European agenda. However, political changes in some European countries have led to an increase of more nationalist ways of thinking, thereby excluding specific societal groups. We believe social diversity is not only a given, but also something to celebrate and aim to offer our students possibilities to explore its values and challenges and provide them with skills and opportunities to develop activities and interventions that address these challenges within their own contexts.

The Short Advanced Programme (SAP) Celebrating Diversity, with its specific focus on diversity and inclusion, is part of the EU Values Awareness programmes within the RUN-EU Work Package 5 – EMIC. The SAP is a joint-collaboration between NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences (NHL Stenden), Technical University of the Shannon (TUS), Howest University of Applied Sciences (HOWEST), Polytechnic of Cávado and Ave (IPCA), Polytechnic University of Leiria (IPL), Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences (FHV), Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK), and University of Burgos (UBU).

The SAP Celebrating Diversity aims to develop the student's intercultural sensitivity, critical thinking and social design skills and provides them with a theoretical framework that helps them understand marginalised perspectives and celebrate the multi-perspectivity cultural diversity brings. Thus, the SAP offers them an in-depth, nuanced understanding of social challenges RUN-EU universities face and provide them with tools to address these challenges within these institutions. As such, this SAP should be seen as the starting point the working group Celebrating Diversity (EPA Mission Social Sciences and Education) embarked on, aiming to develop (inter)cultural activities and interventions for all RUN-EU universities, for example during the introduction week for new students.

This SAP is broadly interdisciplinary and is built on conceptual and theoretical relationships between social, educational and health care studies, including themes and approaches such as neurodiversity, inclusive technology, participatory and community-based approaches, gender education and equality, migration and refugees, physically disabled, socially or economically backlog etc. The SAP is based on up-to-date scientific insights and the presentation of international case studies and best practices in a higher education context. It is designed using the expertise of the working group members and the ongoing knowledge debate and actions that enhance collective, participatory and evidence-informed responses to current inclusion and equity social challenges within our national and regional contexts and how they present themselves within our universities.