PACES training at Alicante

The University of Alicante hosted more than 30 representatives from 4 Moroccan and  4 Egyptian Universities in order to train them on inclusion and accessibility for students with disabilities from 17^th to 21^st February.  Within the framework of the PACES - Progression of Accessibility Centres in Higher Education for Students with Disabilities in North Africa, the University of Alicante contributed with their expertise on disability to share practices and lessons learnt on how to develop an inclusive Higher Education environment.

Therefore, partners had the opportunity to work closely with the staff of the Student Support Center of the University of Alicante on improving their peer to peer-volunteering services, understanding the experiences of students with disabilities at the University as well as harnessing the application of Assistive Technology to increase the scope of these inclusion actions. Besides that, partners also visited the Archaeologic Museum of Alicante which displays a very innovative and cutting-edge system on accessibility collection, providing an excellent example for inclusion on didactics and tourism.

In addition, partners also held a project meeting, led by Coventry University as coordinator of the project, to articulate the last steps of project actions headed towards organizing the last 2 International conferences of the project in Kenitra (Morocco) and Alexandria (Egypt) as well as rounding up volunteering services and training replications. All these actions will ensure sustainability of the impact of PACES project within the context of the Higher Education system of Morocco and Egypt.

PACES project is a Capacity Building Higher Education project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, which aims to enhance accessibility to Higher Education for students with disabilities in North Africa, particularly in Morocco and Egypt.  The University of Alicante, relying upon its expertise on capacity and international building in the field of disability, participates in this project as a partner in order to contribute to the “ Progression of Accessibility Centres in Higher Education for Students with Disabilities in North Africa”.