Fostering Inclusive Learning Environments:
Strategies for Supporting Parenting Students in Higher Education
Tender ID: 2023-1-HU01-KA220-HED-000156058

The main aim of the project is to reduce the barriers for students with children in higher education institutions. The project, implemented in partnership, will create an inclusive approach for universities to integrate this target group into higher education activities. The partnership will make the development of family-friendly higher education systems a top priority, with a particular focus on increasing access, participation and completion rates for disadvantaged students.

Through the comprehensive resources and their use that will be generated as a result of the project, the partnership aims to implement inclusive, family-friendly curricula and practices in the participating higher education institutions. The diverse range of knowledge, experience and ideas of the international consortium will be combined and analysed from multiple perspectives, linking them together in a commitment to the European Education Area.

The project is a strong advocate of European strategies such as the European Education Area, the European Higher Education Area and the European University Strategy, as well as the European Strategy for Gender Equality and the European Care Strategy. It strengthens the capacities of European and Ukrainian organisations, while producing high quality and effective intellectual outputs for inclusiveness.

The project will include a comprehensive focus group research activity within the institutional framework of the partner organisations. Two research papers will explore the challenges that families face in university life and the skills that teachers need to respond to these challenges. The research findings will be used to produce a toolkit – a document that will provide guidance and methodological tools for teachers to support students with families in higher education institutions. The document will focus on specific skills needed to create an inclusive learning environment, such as communication, empathy and compassion, resilience and adaptability, technology and collaboration skills.

The progress and effectiveness of the outlined – planned reforms will be monitored and evaluated in the context of the higher education institutions participating in the project, using a set of monitoring and evaluation templates. A roadmap of key milestones will then be developed to ensure the transferability of results and the sustainability of the project.

Project duration: 30 months
2023.09.01-2026.02.28

The first study tour of the project took place in Budapest, organised by the Károli Gáspár Reformed University. In the framework of the international meeting, representatives of the participating higher education institutions and the coordinating organisation reviewed the current situation of the programme, discussed and shared experiences gained from previous activities and agreed on the tasks and events to be carried out in the near future.

The document has been developed on the basis of information gathered during focus group interviews with higher education students with families and children. This toolkit will help the institution, and in particular the lecturers, to understand and effectively support students with children and to create a more flexible and inclusive educational environment for them.

The second study visit of the project took place in Komárom, organised by the Selye János University. In the framework of the international meeting, representatives of the higher education institutions participating in the programme and the coordinating organisation reviewed the current situation of the programme, discussed and shared experiences gained from previous activities and agreed on the tasks and events to be carried out in the near future.