The Mission
This ARC8 Expert Group will discuss the opportunities, risks, and challenges related to expanding equitable access and success in higher education and develop a chapter dedicated to this topic in the ARC8 Outlook Report 2030: Inclusive and Diverse Higher Education in Asia and Europe.
The ARC8 Expert Group will present their chapter at the ARC8 Conference on 10 September 2021. During their session, the experts will present recommendations for expanding and advancing equity policies in higher education to the ASEM Senior Officials and university leaders from Asia and Europe.
Topics discussed in this chapter are: equity vs equality in higher education, monetary and non-monetary access instruments, underrepresented groups, gender gap, digital divide, disadvantaged, vulnerable and excluded populations.
Expert Group Members
ARC8 Expert Group Sessions
In the span of 8 months, ARC8 Experts share knowledge and discuss specific opportunities, risks, and challenges related to equitable access and success in higher education. During each Expert Group Session two ARC8 Experts give a 10-minute presentation each. After every presentation, members of the Expert Group ask questions, give comments, and contribute towards making the discussion more in-depth.
These ARC8 Expert Group sessions are essential to the process of developing the output, an entire chapter dedicated to the specific topic as part of the report ARC8 Outlook 2030: Inclusion and Diversity in Higher Education in Asia and Europe.
The PowerPoint Presentations of experts and the summary of their presentations are made available here.
Session Summaries
Presentation of Mary TUPAN-WENNO, Executive Director of ECHO, Centre for Diversity Policy, The Netherlands
Mary gave a 10-minute presentation. She began her presentation by providing a definition of access and success in higher education. To illustrate, she provided a visual depicting inclusion policies, which explained how inclusion in higher education can be successful when certain elements are addressed.
Mary presents that multiple pathways to entry, an inclusive learning environment, and the sense of belonging and social safety are essential to inclusion and success in higher education. Mary proposed discussion points on the potential risks and challenges that could jeopardize inclusion efforts in the next 10 years. One example of a risk is the tendency to focus too much on access and less on inclusion. Additionally, Mary expounded on the risk of the “color-blind instead of a Color-brave approach”.
Mary concluded by identifying opportunities and leverage points that could take inclusion to the next level in the upcoming decade, such as:
- Co-creation and collaboration with students
- Outreach and collaboration with informal and non-formal education providers
- More focus on the benefits of diversity and inclusion, and greater focus on quality, productivity and innovation in science
- Public– Private collaboration
Presentation of Dr Graeme ATHERTON, Director, National Education Opportunities Network (NEON)
Graeme gave a 10 minute presentation. He began his presentation by focusing on a few major issues with regard to access and success to higher education. He identified the challenges faced in developing support from both policymakers and institutions. Graeme introduced the World Access to Higher Education Day (WAHED) initiative, and related research materials, such as the “All Around the World: Higher Education Equity Policies Across the Globe” authored by Lumina Foundation in 2017.
Graeme identified two main risks that could jeopordise inclusion and success in higher education : The negative impact on the economy and finances due to COVID-19 and the digital divide.
Graeme also identified opportunities and leverage points. identified that including equity in higher education as part of the inequality agenda, as the main opportunity.
⇒ View the Summary of Presentation here
⇒ View and Download the PPT Presentation here
Presentation of Dr Dina AFRIANTY, Founder, Australia-Indonesia Disability Research and Advocacy Network (AIDRAN); Research fellow, La Trobe Law School, Australia
Dina gave a 10-minute presentation. She began by determining the status quo in the case of Indonesia. People with disabilities in Indonesia are faced by a myriad of challenges.
One major challenge was the fact that persons with disabilities could not rely on the government. There are different sources of data on the number of people with disabilities in Indonesia. Different ministries provide different data in this regard.
According to some ministries, there is between 15% to 20% of Indonesian population that have disabilities, which is an estimate of 27 million to 35 million people with different types of disabilities, out of a 260 million population of the entire country. Based on the 2019 report of the SMRU Research Institute, the data on the prevalence of disability in Indonesia stands between 17-45% of the entire population.
Nonetheless, despite varying statistics from different ministries , Indonesia has seen significant progress in the adoption of international principles on disabilities, such as the ratification of the 2011 Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Additionally, the Indonesian government introduced the national disability law in 2016.
What our experts said...
