Our University has been gradually recognising and developing services to ensure that students with Disability, Medical and Mental Health Conditions can successfully participate in Tertiary Education. We are now sharing our developments with other institutions through a systematic scoping review of what students with disability in universities across the world are asserting about their aspirations and needs for equitable participation.
The Systematic Review has been published in Frontiers Educational Psychology, proposing a framework for the organisation and improvement of services for all university students and in particular for students with disability. It can be accessed .
This review is part of a two-year project of the Access Disability Support Committee on ‘Access to Tertiary Education for Persons with Disability’ (ACTED).
The project is coordinated by in collaboration with (Research Officer), (Chair, ADSC), (Head, ADSU), , Dr Edward Mazzacano D’Amato and (ADSU Staff), Dr Alistair De Gaetano (Autism Advisory Council), and Dr Jonathan Vincent from the University of Lancaster. It also reflects the contributions of the other members of the ADSC. The project is partially funded by the Ministry for Inclusion, Voluntary Organisations and Consumer Rights.
The study involved a PRISMA search of ERIC, PsycINFO and Web of Science databases that identified 133 relevant research articles from across the world covering the higher education experiences of students with all types of disability. These were subjected to Thematic Analysis.
Three main themes were identified. Firstly, the findings showed that a crucial component of the student higher education experience was the development of their own self-identity, addressing stigma and enhancing self-advocacy skills, autonomy, and career prospects.
Secondly, the studies described how students struggled for full membership in the university community, calling for a transformation of university physical, social and teaching environments for them to access and participate in academic and social activities.
Thirdly, the analysis showed that students valued individual accommodations in both coursework and assessment.
These findings constitute a newly comprehensive framework for inclusive tertiary education systems and individual accommodations which is grounded in empirical research from a wide variety of contexts. This can serve higher education institutions to develop policy and procedures to ensure equitable participation of students with disability.
Indeed, that framework served us well to construct the survey questions and interview schedule for our own study of what students with disability at the University of Malta aspire for and need to participate effectively.
This is the second task of the ACTED project and the findings will soon be communicated to our university structures for the improvement of both the University’s general response to diversity as well as of the services offered by the ADSC.
