UMH SPEARHEADS A EUROPEAN PROJECT ON UNIVERSITY EDUCATION FOR PEOPLE WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY
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The European Universities and associations who participate in U4INCLUSION have held their first meeting in Elche.
Durante the next three years they will elaborate a program for the University training of persons with intellectual disabilities.
Our goal is that more Universities open their doors to persons with intellectual disabilities and offer them training programs.
Today, the Elche campus of the Miguel Hernández University has hosted the kick-off meeting of the U4INCLUSION project, led by the UMH and funded by the European Union Erasmus Plus programme, which also counts on the involvement of the University of Calabria (Italy), the Thomas More University of Kempen (Belgium), the Institute of Inclusive Education of the University of Kiel (Germany) and the innovation company KVELOCE. The project coordinator is Professor Antonio-Luis Martínez-Pujalte, Director of the TEMPE-APSA Chair for Disability and Employability of the UMH.
The aim of the U4INCLUSION project is to design, on the basis of the experiences already acquired by the Universities involved, a university educational pathway for people with intellectual disabilities that will earn the approval and recognition of the European Union, and that will improve the low rate of integration of people with this type of disability in the labour market.
“Our experience shows that university educational programmes for the employment of people with intellectual disabilities that are carried out in some Spanish and European universities, including those that are taking part in this project, are very valuable for their training and contribute to their integration in the labour market. We want many more Universities to open their doors to people with intellectual disabilities and offer programmes of this nature, and we will provide them with the tools that will enable them to do so”, said Professor Martínez-Pujalte, project coordinator.
Throughout the development of the project, which will run over the next three years, the participating entities will draw up a curriculum for the university education of people with intellectual disabilities as well as relevant training materials. «By pooling our experiences and reflections, we want to design the best possible training for people with intellectual disabilities.» The project will conclude with an international conference to be held in Elche in May 2022, in which the findings will be reported.
