What happens when you try to promote inclusion in a research-intensive university with over 30,000 students? Everyone thinks it’s a good idea but equally, everyone already has a job to do and no time or capacity to come up with their own framework or action plan.
What’s the answer?
A whole-institution approach that comes with leadership and support from the top, a toolkit and a team of professionals and colleagues to scaffold the process. In University College Dublin (UCD) we call this University for All.
What is University for All?
University for All is a whole-institution, evidence-based approach towards mainstreaming inclusion in UCD, to support an increasingly diverse scholarly community and ensure that all students feel welcome, belong and are valued.
It is underpinned by the principles of Universal Design which are about creating an environment that can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people, regardless of their age, size, ability or disabilities.
How is this strategic change initiative being implemented?
A core tenet of University for All is that ‘Access and Inclusion is Everyone’s Business’ and that by embedding Universal Design at all levels we can remove barriers and ensure that the needs of the full range of students are proactively ‘designed-in’ to the University’s processes, systems, and approaches.
This is being achieved via:
- the development and facilitation of three Universal Design Professional Development Programmes to build Universal Design capacity
- the creation of Unlocking Inclusion, a Toolkit for Universal Design in Higher Education (Kelly, Padden & Fleming, 2024) as a practical ‘how to’ resource
- our Partnership initiatives which allow for the platforming of engaged and skilled colleagues to act as leaders in Universal Design, facilitating training and influencing their peers with great success
- the Pathways to the Professions project which extends our work to early career environments.
The Universal Design Professional Development Programmes
UCD has significant expertise in the development of Universal Design at a national level in the HE and FE sector in Ireland. This includes the co-development with AHEAD of the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning Digital Badges in Universal Design for Teaching andLearning and the newly developed Universal Design Beyond the Classroom (for professional staff who may not be in a direct teaching role). To date, over 4,000 sector-wide recipients have successfully undertaken these digital badges in Ireland.
The Badges are delivered nationally in a MOOC-style roll out each September as well as being available locally in HE and FE institutions. UCD has seen the highest institutional take up, with over 500 colleagues having now completed the Badges. The Badge materials are available as Open Education Resources for use by other institutions.
We have also developed a baseline one-hour Introduction to Universal Design, online interactive training available to UCD staff and students with 360 completing this training to date.
The UCD Partnership Programmes
We have developed three Partnership Programmes (Faculty, Student and Professional Staff) designed to increase the take up of our professional development offerings. These have been key enablers for the success of University for All.
Faculty and Staff partners facilitate the Digital Badges and are funded to work both on overall and individual project goals. Proposals should consider sustainability, student partnership and collaboration. The partnerships bring together colleagues from across different contexts and subject areas and provide informal opportunities to discuss challenges and share ideas and solutions. This element has been particularly beneficial to the partnership model and has allowed for meaningful collaboration and community to evolve.
The Faculty Partnership Programme has been running since 2021. Over 30 UCD members of Faculty are embedding Universal Design in their classrooms, contexts and disciplines.
The Professional Staff Partnership Programme was created in 2023 with 10 UCD colleagues being appointed for the 2023/24 academic year. They are looking at how Universal Design can be implemented in student supports and services. A pilot Student Partnership Programme with eight student participants was established in September 2023 to engage students as partners in Universal Design. Student Partners work alongside us to build Universal Design capacity, help students advocate for change and create an inclusive campus experience incorporating the student voice in a meaningful way.
The Student Partners organised and promoted the University for All Roadshow, helping to raise awareness of inclusion and Universal Design across campus in February 2024. They designed and led on sustained social media and communications to encourage students to complete the University for All Student Survey which runs every four years, leading to over 2,100 responses. They have delivered several Universal Design interactive workshop sessions to the heads of UCD’s societies and to UCD Student Ambassadors.
Pathways to the Professions
The Pathways to the Professions initiative is widening our lens to include inclusion in the workplace. It looks at how we can remove barriers to access, participation and success at each step along the pathway to a profession, following the student lifecycle from pre-entry outreach initiatives to university and academic success and on to early career progression and professional achievement for our graduates. Project outcomes will include a toolkit and micro-credential on inclusive workplaces for employers.
Impact on student experience
Early results analysis of the University for All Student Survey indicates that the students’ experience is that UCD is more inclusive than at the time of the last survey in 2020. The full survey results will be available in the coming months.
Senior leadership buy-in
The final, and most significant ingredient for our work, and the work of inclusion, is senior leadership endorsement and support. The key to mainstreaming is to have all colleagues assume responsibility for access and inclusion. We can only consider being a University for All when all colleagues recognise its merit and importance. The role of leadership in conveying and promoting this concept is critical.
Check out the University for All webpage to learn more about how University for All is working on the ground and reflect on how this approach could be used in your own institution using the open education resources developed by the project team.
Dr Bairbre Fleming is Director of UCD Access & Lifelong Learning. She has extensive experience working with underrepresented students, with particular emphasis on mature students and part-time programmes. Bairbre leads a team of access professionals in her role as Director of UCD Access & Lifelong Learning. The team attracts, supports, and develops strategies for the 35% of students who come to UCD through a range of access routes. Bairbre is the current chair of the PATH Leinster Pillar 1 consortium which is collaborating to increase access to higher education for targeted under-represented groups.
Dr Lisa Padden is the Deputy Director of Access and Lifelong Learning in University College Dublin (UCD). Lisa works with academic and professional colleagues across the university to implement University for All - UCD’s whole-institution approach to student inclusion encompassing strategy and policy, teaching, learning and assessment, student supports and services, the built environment and technological infrastructure. Lisa has particular expertise in capacity building in the areas of Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning.
Daniel Elliott is Programme Manager - University for All. He oversees and supports the Partnership Programmes as part of the University for All initiative, as well as the UCD Widening Participation Committee. He manages the annual University for All Roadshow and Symposium and coordinates the John Kelly Awards process with AHEAD.
Kathie Orr has worked in Further and Higher Education since 2012. Kathie worked as an instructional designer on the Digital Badge in Universal Design Beyond the Classroom and is currently coordinating the University for All Pathways to the Professions project.