Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategies Adopted in a European University Alliance to Facilitate the Higher Education-to-Work Transition

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted higher education, imposing the need to add new strategies to academic educational models to facilitate young people’s transitions from education to work. Among the new challenges, the research study focuses on the importance of valuing and incrementing inclusion, raising awareness of equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) strategies and policies. Many universities have yet to develop inclusive processes and cultures that provide equality of opportunity for all, regardless of gender, ethnicity, social class, sexual orientation, physical ability, identity, and cultural background. Since 2019, the European Commission has financed “European Universities”, networks of universities creating international competitive degrees that combine excellent study programmes in different European countries. Today, 340 institutions in 44 European University Alliances (EUAs) promote European values and identity and revolutionise their quality and competitiveness to become the "universities of the future". This article proposes a comprehensive approach to promote EDI within the EUA “ULYSSEUS” involving Spanish, Italian, Austrian, French, Finnish, and Slovakian universities through micro-actions to apply EDI principles at the project level. The authors will frame the theoretical basis of the experience through documentary analysis and their academic expertise in promoting strategies connected with the European values enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union: pluralism, tolerance, justice, solidarity, non-discrimination and equality. Implementing these values through visible micro-actions could document and counteract the disadvantages underrepresented groups face in academia. In the mid-term, the experience had by the students in the EUA could facilitate the higher education-to-work transition, allowing them to replicate their EDI-related experience as students to their future roles as citizens and workers. The outcome could thus contribute to a life-wide learning perspective for a more inclusive Europe in the long term.

The Dual Nature of Opportunity Structures Amid the Global Pandemic

“…Many of these institutions run mobility schemes that facilitate short stays in other countries, which help students broaden their horizons, develop new social contacts, and learn languages. As shown by two contributions in this Special Issue [7,8], for many university students in the EU, programs such as the Erasmus+ have become an inherent feature of their educational trajectory while an increasing number of universities are implementing programs to foster social inclusion and equity by catering to the needs of an inevitably diverse intake.…”

“…The institutional approach of university authorities to youth transitions is the main lens used in the article by Anna Siri, Cinzia Leone and Rita Benciveng: "Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategies Adopted in a European University Alliance to Facilitate the Higher Education-to-Work Transition" [8]. This article deals with higher education management like the previous one, but from the perspective of the European Union's policy for encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion.…”

“…The Special Issue focuses on the interface between public policies and the experience of young people in Bulgaria, Finland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Morocco and the United Kingdom. On the one hand, the articles discuss institutional aspects such as education policies [3][4][5], regulation of migration [6], or programs that foster international mobility and inclusion of diverse students in higher education institutions [7,8], building upon desk research and statistical and other quantitative analyses. On the other hand, some contributions draw on hermeneutical [9], ethnographical [10], narrative [11], and other qualitative methods to spell out the experiences of these young people in their life transitions.…”

Diversity and Intercultural Competence for Sustainable Community Development

“…The value of building inclusivity into the teaching curriculum or the design of research and innovation programs (which reflects, how considerations of sex/gender and/or minority perspectives could impact the research and teaching issues) often is not sufficiently central to address institutional issues of diversity and inclusion. Also, the increasing "classical" indicator of the diversity of students in educational communities cannot be considered an indicator of greater "equality" and "diversity" within the higher educational system (Siri et. al., 2022).…”

Transforming higher education institutions through EDI leadership: A bibliometric exploration

“…Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are essential principles for establishing an environment that fosters impartiality, esteem, and a feeling of belonging for every individual [ [1] , [2] , [3] ]. EDI's inception can be attributed to the Civil Rights movement in the United States, which aimed to eradicate racial segregation and discrimination [ 4 ].…”