Promoting Accessibility of Students with Disability to Higher Education in Cuba, Costa Rica and Dominican Republic

"On the basis of the latest available data on disability in the Latin American and Caribbean region, an average of 12% of the population in this region lives with some form of disability (UN-ECLAC, 2012). 3 PC present in the Consortium (Costa Rica, Cuba and DR) despite having relatively strong legal frameworks in place to include PWD in all dimensions of society, require urgent policy action on disability in HE. In line with recent advancements at National, Regional & International level, ACCESS will operationalise these initatives in order to ""Leave No One Behind"" (Agenda 2030). Therefore, the overall objective of the ACCESS project is to improve accessibility, ensure learning conditions and foster policy change towards the inclusion of students with disabilities within the context of Higher Education in Costa Rica, Cuba and Dominican Republic via modern inclusion practices, training and networking. ACCESS will achieve that through concrete tangible outputs: 1. Increased inter-institutional cooperation and sharing of good practices via the needs analysis and transfer of know-how. 2. Enhancement of managerial, academic, teaching and administrative staff capacities in dealing with and implementing inclusive education practices.3. Creation of institutional support structures and assistive technology to enable access to HE and foster the consolidation of a social integration culture within universities. 4. Set up of 3 National Networks at each Partner Country, engaging with relevant stakeholders and enlarge with other PC HEIs and internaitonal experts.5. Development of a Regional network for the Inclusion of students with disabilities in HE.6. Increase public awareness and understanding on inclusive education within higher education institutions."