dominican republic

ACCESS consortium held its VII coordination virtual meeting on 22nd July 2021. Participants had the opportunity to examine the work undertaken during the last 6 months, working exclusively on remote basis from the beginning of 2021. The virtual gathering was attended by delegates from Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Greece and Spain,  representing all the 13 Higher Education Institutions and  3 national Ministries of Education which take part in the ACCESS project

More than 100 participants from Costa Rica, Cuba and the Dominican Republic took part in the 3rd Online Training of the ACCESS Project, organized on May 26 and 31, 2021. The workshop was given by the University of Macedonia (Greece), combining face-to-face methodology via virtual meeting and reflections in groups through autonomous work in guided practices on scientific and informative material previously prepared in emotional intelligence applied to students with disabilities and the application of the social model of disability within the educational environment. These trainings are especially aimed at the members of the support centers for students with disabilities, academic professionals and key service personnel of the partner Higher Education Institutions as well as representatives from the Ministries of Higher Education of the ACCESS consortium member countries. They are main stakeholders of Higher Education system who should become driving forces behind the construction of a more inclusive and open university space for all in the Higher Education Institutions of Costa Rica, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, and in general throughout the whole Latin America

More than 90 participants from Costa Rica, Cuba and the Dominican Republic took part in the 2nd Training of the ACCESS Project, organized on February 17 and 18, 2021. The workshop was taught virtually by the Digital Accessibility Unit of the University of Alicante. The training focused on familiarizing, in an eminently practical way, attendees with tools and methodologies for creating digital and inclusive teaching materials. These contents are especially useful in this context of a pandemic that has forced most of the Universities to deliver their educational actions via online or hybrid methodologies

ACCESS consortium held its first coordination virtual meeting of the year on 2^nd February 2021. The online gathering was attended by 35 delegates from Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Greece and Spain,  representing all the 13 Higher Education Institutions and  3 national Ministries of Education which take part in the ACCESS project. The reunion centered around reviewing progress undertook during the last year and laid the basis for ACCESS project actions during the next month such as the upcoming online trainings on  inclusion for 17-18 February.

ACCESS partners convened to celebrate the official approval of the extension of the project up to January 2024 on account of the disruption generated by COVID-19 pandemic within the pace of all project activities and the normal functioning of the University system in Cuba, Costa Rica and Dominican Republic as well as Spain.

On account of the disruption caused by the COVID-19 crisis, ACCESS project is scaling up its virtual presence across a wide array of conferences, seminars and events, directed towards raising-awareness on inclusion, accessibility and disability at Higher Education level in the Caribbean region. In consequence, ACCESS partners have recently participated in III INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF INCLUSIVE TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION – CONTIE 2020 with representatives from TEC Costa Rica, the INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION WEEK organized by the INTEC and the “Dialogue: Interaction and dignified treatment of people with disabilities from a rights perspective" celebrated by UNAPEC.

This strategy obeys to the necessity to bypass international travel restrictions and face-to-face gathering limitations stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.  As such, ACCESS ensures maxim outreach of dissemination actions directed towards key stakeholders at University level, which work towards building up a Higher Education system for all and leaving no one behind. Connecting with students with disabilities, general student population, administrative and academic staff from the Universities, political actors and disability NGOs is key to ensure exploitation and sustainability of ACCESS project results. Virtual events are now and considering circumstances an optimal platform to maximise engagement in Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and Cuba.

Amidst the COVID-19 crisis, ACCESS continues moving forward with project actions. While the impact of Universities closures and lockdowns in Costa Rica, Cuba and Dominican Republic has been felt on projects activities, ACCESS partners renewed their commitment on tackling inclusion, accessibility and disability through project actions. In September and November 2020, ACCESS consortium organized 2 on-line coordination meetings to outline priorities for intervention and shift project activities to an exclusive virtual modality until the COVID-19 pandemic recedes globally.

Through intense exchange ACCESS partners agreed upon conducting project activities online focusing on the following areas of intervention: resume data collection for the Needs Analysis, progressing with the establishment of the Support Centers in each partner country  and intensifying online dissemination actions. The consensus reach between all members of the Consortium is been confirmed via bilateral meetings conducted to provide personalized support to partners in order to overcome the struggles that they are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ACCESS partners met on 17^th November 2020 for the third project coordination meeting, bringing together representatives of higher education institutions from Costa Rica, Cuba and Dominican Republic, the Ministries of Higher Education of these Latin American countries, the University of Macedonia and the University of Alicante, the project coordinator. The objective of the meeting was to present the current status of the project and a specific action plan for the next 12-months including mitigation actions in light of the current pandemic. Project partners approved the updated workplan that transformed some of the project activities into remote activities, without losing their expected impact and guaranteeing a successful transition to online actions in the short term.

From the 20^th to the 22^nd of July 2020 the 1^st ACCESS training “Inclusive Education: Context and Background” was conducted on-line, jointly delivered by the University of Alicante (UA) and the University of Macedonia (UOM).

This first training was supposed to be held on the same dates at the University of Macedonia in Greece, together with a study visit and a coordination meeting. However, due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, in order to continue with the project activities as initially planned, the training was conducted on-line using the Livestorm webinar platform. The use of this platform has allowed sharing presentation and videos, questions and answer sessions, a practical workshop and open discussions with moderation by the project coordinator, UA. Furthermore, the three sessions have been recorded allowing partners to view the sessions at any time.

On June 9, 2020, the first coordination meeting of the ACCESS project was held, bringing together representatives of 2 higher education institutions from Costa Rica, 4 from Cuba and 5 from the Dominican Republic, the Ministries of Higher Education of these Latin American countries, the University of Macedonia and the University of Alicante, the project coordinator. The meeting, scheduled for July at the University of Macedonia, Greece, was held virtually because of the current inability of the project partners to travel. The objective of the meeting was to present the current status of the project, the next activities to be carried out and the responsibilities of the partners. During the meeting a question-and -answer session was established to solve the doubts of the partners both at technical and financial level. Also, for the review of the financial aspects of the project an evaluation test was conducted among all the attendees, being the dynamics of the meeting more participative.