Abstract:

The TUT4IND project is a European project financed by SEPIE and coordinated by the University of Burgos. It consists of a large international multidisciplinary team of professionals, including European universities and specific socio-educational inclusion entities. The TUT4IND Project Consortium aims to promote the creation of higher education courses open to the participation of people with intellectual disabilities and to contribute to the construction of inclusive higher education systems through the development of a specific programme where skills and competences will be the basis for learning. Key points of this project are the pilot course and its virtualization, as well as the Application Guide developed to ensure the transferability of the project results to other entities and countries. Another major objective is to promote and increase the participation of people with intellectual disabilities in the general courses of higher education institutions, which is currently limited in many European countries, opening up their possibilities of access to the labour market. In order to achieve this objective, Tut4ind proposes the development and increase of official university degrees aimed at the inclusion of persons with intellectual disabilities in higher education contexts, improving their self-esteem and autonomy and opening them new work possibilities, becoming less dependent on social welfare systems or programmes; in turn, society will become aware of inclusion in higher education institutions and the benefits of sharing environments.

To this end, the curriculum of the pilot programme has been designed, comprising a wide range of cross-cutting themes, methodologies and resources for the adaptation of curricula and teaching materials to the needs of people with intellectual disabilities, including work placements in enterprises. Within this methodological approach to intellectual disability, the central educational focus is on learning processes, designed through a cross-cutting and comprehensive approach that includes technological and psycho-pedagogical tools, as well as organisational and communication resources, thus supporting educators to improve the inclusion of their courses.

The plan also includes recommendations for its implementation and the formulation of educational policies, without which it will not be possible to achieve full inclusion in the academic environment. The exchange of methodologies, good practices and the transnational cooperation necessary for the development of this project will guarantee the exchange of the best policies in teacher training for the development of this new challenge within higher education.

Keywords:

Inclusion, Higher education, Erasmus Project.