Overview

Objectives:

Focusing the attention on the social dimension of Higher Education Institutes (HEIs), the STATUS project opens up possibilities for introduction of innovative approaches in education practices needed to level up governance and curriculum delivery, open further access to programs and resources and equal opportunity for the enrollment and retention of vulnerable students, enhancing their learning relationships and perspectives, and empowering students in general to direct their own learning.

The overall objective is to create a supportive educational environment enhancing the participation of underrepresented students in tertiary education.

Specific objectives

• To increase the access of Roma and other underrepresented students in European HEIs.
• To increase academic achievement success rate and prevent Early School Leaving (ESL) in HEIs of Roma and other underrepresented students.
• To contribute to HEIs more effective and efficient cooperation practices with other relevant local community stakeholders, in particular Civil Society (CS) organisations, leading to increased interest and better targeting of underrepresented students to pursue tertiary education.
• To create and test inclusive education support measures and programs, exchange of current best approaches and tackling urgent needs.

Activities

• Mapping of good practices on inclusive learning culture in the higher education as well as of early warning systems (EWS) on dropping out risk in the different partner countries’ contexts.
• Training activities for HEIs teaching and non-teaching staff on increasing access and supporting the academic achievements of underrepresented students.
• Workshops for students on intercultural peer support skills and active inclusion of underrepresented students.
• Developmental workshops in Serbia, Italy, Portugal and Romania for the finalization and fine-tuning of the project results.

Resources

• European HEI e-repository of good practices related to socially inclusive learning culture and early warning systems (EWS)
• HEI teaching and non-teaching staff training manual and programme on intercultural competences and development of more inclusive education environments
• CS-HE cooperation toolkit on increasing access and supporting achievement of underrepresented students
• Toolkit on peer support and active inclusion of underrepresented students
• European policy brief/recommendations for improving social dimension of teaching and learning in European HEIs

Impact

• Innovative education approaches to foster the enrolment and participation of students from underrepresented groups in HE.
• Improved capacity of HEIs in providing both academic and non-academic support to underrepresented students.
• Strengthened CS-HE cooperation in supporting underrepresented students in other socio-economic areas beyond the sector of education, such for instance the labour market.
• Empowered students, in particular underrepresented ones, in becoming main actors of their learning paths.
• Improved awareness among policy makers on issues related to social inclusion of underrepresented students in HE.

Partners

• Visoka škola strukovnih studija za vaspitače Vršac (Serbia, coordinator)
• Universitatea 1 Decembrie 1918 (Romania)
• Universidade da Madeira (Portugal)
• Western Balkans Institute (Serbia)
• Università degli Studi di Palermo (Italy)
• CESIE (Italy)