On the 27th and 28th of September 2018, more than 20 organisations with expertise in the fields of Youth mobility, Higher Education mobility and Disability have gathered in Brussels to start discussing and defining what it means to organise an Inclusive Mobility.
This group was named the 'Inclusive Mobility Alliance'. The idea for the alliance came about because the number of students with disabilities who are taking part in Erasmus+ hasn't changed despite the overall participation of students in the programme is rapidly increasing.
During the first day, participants had the chance to get to know each other, discover the work of the other organisations as well as some of the good practices already existing on the topic, such as:
- SIHO and their website full of resources for students with disabilities in Flanders
- VIEWS International and their concept of Adapted EVS
- AHEAD and the guidelines for cooperation International Office - Disability Office
- ESN with the MappED! platform
They also defined the concept of Inclusive Mobility and brainstormed on the core elements that make a mobility abroad fully inclusive.
During the second day, the partners received Lloyd Huitson, Policy Officer at the European Commission DG EAC, who introduced the EU Commission proposal for the next Erasmus programme 2021-2027, that is currently being discussed at the European Parliament. After a round of questions and answers about its Social Dimension aspects, participants worked in groups to identify what works and what doesn’t work currently in the Erasmus+ programme and came up with realistic solutions on how to improve the future Erasmus programme post-2020.
A set of recommendations will policy-makers at all levels (European, National, Regional and Local) on how to make international mobility more inclusive will be produced by early next year. Keep tuned for them!
