Academic Support for Disabled Students as an Example of Social Responsibility of University Ireneusz Bialek Małgorzata Perdeus Dagmara Nowak-Adamczyk
Dec 25, 2015
Academic Support for Disabled Students as an Example of Social
Responsibility of University
Ireneusz Bialek Małgorzata Perdeus
Dagmara Nowak-Adamczyk
Jagiellonian University
Founded in 1364
Disability Support Service
academic center providing educational support for disabled students of the Jagiellonian University, candidates, university staff, people supporting the idea of inclusive education to the mainstream
mission: ensuring equal educational opportunities, equal rights, equal responsibilities
Disability Support Service’s offert is focused on:
students with visual impairment students withhearing impairment students with mobility impairment students with mental health diffficulties students with dyslexia, dysgraphia students with other disabilities university candidates university academic staff and administration
Statistics 2010/2011:44 813 all students at the Jagiellonian University/667
disabled students
Responsible university
Academic model of students’ support
Support in a process of learning/teaching
Disability awareness
student
Disability SupportService
academic staff
The Constellation Leo:
The educational support
programme for Jagiellonian
University students with mental
health difficulties
www.LeoProject.eu
Why the project?
Significant increase in the number of students with mental health difficulties
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
2007/2008 2009/2010
10 x
Statistics in detail: 2009/2010
28 % of students with depression
23 % of students with schizophrenia
12 % of students with drug addiction
About the Project
Duration time: January 2010 – August 2011
Participants: 40 Jagiellonian University students
Criteria:
- motivation,
- need of psychological support
Prorities
to offer wide-ranging psychological support to students with mental health difficulties
to offer such students bespoke training programmes focusing on maximum use of their potential related to the educational process and their functioning in knowledge-based society
to open the website, facilitating a better understanding of problems faced by students with mental health difficulties and promoting solid knowledge on mental illnesses and their consequences, and
combating stereotypes related to mental health difficulties in the academic community.
Actions:
First stage: psychological support
Second stage: personalized training programmes supporting a learning process
Parallel: educational platforme
student with mental health difficulties
inclusionacademic community
Results
inclusion of 40 students with mental health difficulties in a comprehensive programme of psychological support and personalised training programmes on social competences;
in justified cases, referring the students to high-quality
specialists in psychiatry offering consultation;
launching a debate in the academic community on mental health difficulties and their consequences for the teaching process, and
equipping the broadly understood academic community
with the ability to respond to problems and challenges related to the presence of persons with mental health dificulties at university.
‘My Journey’- reflections on mental health
and university education
„These are my two biggest dreams in life: to be healthy and to graduate from the university”.
Ewa Kowalska, My Journey