Main Session: ALTITUDE - Starting a National Conversation on Embedding Universal Design in Tertiary Education

The diversity of Ireland’s tertiary education learner population is rapidly increasing; almost 40% of the tertiary education learner population is made up of ‘non-traditional’ students (Quirke et al., 2020). In particular, there has been a notable increase in the number of students with disabilities enrolling in higher education over the last decade (AHEAD, 2023). Universal Design offers an evidence-based approach to respond to this trend and ensure we are best supporting all learners.

While there is significant activity around Universal Design taking place across Ireland, there is a need to consider how it can be sustained with a greater effort to take a national, coordinated approach to UD practice.

Session Outline

• Introducing the ALTITUDE project – The National Charter for Universal Design in Tertiary Education. The journey from the beginnings to next steps. Download the slides for the introduction section.
• Introducing the Leadership in Universal Design in Tertiary Education module for leaders. Download the slides for the Leadership module section.
• Introducing Developing a Web Accessibility Statement for the Tertiary Sector.
• Short break.
• A panel of leaders discussing the challenges and opportunities presented by ALTITUDE:
  • Prof Stephen Byrne, Deputy President and Registrar, UCC
  • Lindsay Malone, Director of FET, WWETB
  • Dr Michèle Glacken, Registrar & Vice President Students, Teaching & Learning, ATU
  • John Fitzgibbons, Director of FET, Cork ETB
  • Dr Brendan O'Donnell, Vice President Academic Affairs & Registrar, MTU

In this session, participants will be introduced to national, shared projects which have leveraged Path-4 Phase 1 funding to develop practical supports to implementing universal design.

• ALTITUDE - the National Charter for Universal Design in Tertiary Education. The ALTITUDE Charter will provide a roadmap for the systemic implementation of universal design and related frameworks across tertiary education, and act as a vehicle for institutional commitment to this approach. The project is led by Atlantic Technological University (ATU), but powering the project is an extraordinary 27-strong cross-sectoral partnership of national bodies, higher education institutions and education and training boards, including AHEAD.
• Leadership in Universal Design for Tertiary Education. This project aims to support leaders in tertiary education to understand how they can strategically implement universal design by addressing a gap in the provision of continuing professional development for this cohort. The project group has facilitated several workshops to collect data to inform the course content development and has conducted a pilot study with 50 participants.
• Developing a Web Accessibility Statement for the Tertiary Sector. The Web Accessibility Directive transposed into Irish law in 2020 mandates all public bodies, including FET and higher education institutions, to develop and publish a Web Accessibility Statement for their websites and digital platforms. This project aimed to develop a sample web accessibility statement for tertiary sector, based on good practice in the field.