Book on the social dimension in education

This book, edited by Joaquín Gairín, David Rodríguez Gómez and Fabio Dovigo, includes the contributions of Kati Clements, Fabio Dovigo, Joaquín Gairín, Romita Iucu, Miguel Jerónimo, Lisa Lucas, Tiina Mäkelä, Elena Marin, Saana Mehtälä, Fernanda Paula Pinheiro, David Rodríguez Gómez, Cecilia Inés Suárez, Mihaela Stîngu and Sue Timmis. All the authors are researchers and teachers working in educational institutions and interested in promoting student diversity and the inclusion of the most disadvantaged students.

The social dimension of higher education emphasizes the need to create more flexible learning pathways and participation within higher education for all students. In recent years, several projects have been developed and research groups have been created that have allowed considerable progress in promoting and monitoring more inclusive policies in this field. However, designing and implementing programs that serve vulnerable people remains a challenge for universities. Including most significant contributions from the European ACCESS4ALL project, the book presents conceptual aspects related to university inclusion, such as quality and transitions linked to the treatment of diversity, good inclusion practices in six countries, and a set of tools to identify dysfunctions and promote inclusion in higher education.

The objective of the ACCESS4ALL project has been to promote the education and social inclusion of those less represented groups as well as unusual students. This main objective was specified in 4 operational objectives: (1) establish a map with institutional policies to attend vulnerable groups in relation to access and academic success; (2) establish guidelines to be implemented in higher education institutions to promote initiatives aimed at encouraging the successful access and development of those students who are underrepresented in universities; (3) jointly create strategies and measure the promotion of access, permanence and success of vulnerable students and other non-habitual students in the university; (4) create a laboratory for the creation of flexible innovation strategies with the idea of ​​promoting the social commitment of higher education institutions in relation to the most vulnerable groups of students.

To access the publication: https://brill.com/view/title/59434

More information about the ACCESS4ALL project: https://access4allproject.eu/