Monday, 17 June, 2019 - 14:24

On the 6-7th May 2019 in Brussels ESN took part in the launch of a new project Enhancing a thought-out Policy and Framework on Inclusive Mobility across Europe (EPFIME).

The EPFIME project will examine the needs and expectations on inclusive mobility of national authorities, students with disabilities and higher education institutions across Europe, while focusing on how national authorities and higher education institutions can collaborate more strongly to ensure the quality and transferability of support services for both incoming and outgoing students with disabilities in exchange programmes.

The project is led by the Ministry of Education and Training of Belgium/Flemish Community in collaboration with the Support Centre for Inclusive Higher Education in Flanders (SIHO), the Association for Higher Education Access and Disability (AHEAD) in Ireland, , the Irish Universities Association (IUA) and the Erasmus Student Network (ESN). Three individual experts from Universities UK International (UUKI), Confia International and Ghent University are also providing expertise on the topic of Inclusive Mobility.

The EPFIME project is a 2-year project co-funded by Erasmus+ KA3 Support to Policy reform "Support to the implementation of EHEA reforms - 2018-2020". Throughout its duration, the different partners will:

  • Publish a policy report on existing national regulations on Inclusive Mobility

  • Publish policy recommendations to practitioners in Higher Education across Europe (European Commission, national authorities, national agencies, policy officers, international relations officers, disability and inclusion officers) on how to implement a sustainable framework on inclusive mobility at European/national/regional/institutional level

  • Create a guideline on Inclusive Mobility to stimulate higher education institutions to implement a sustainable inclusive mobility strategy at the institutional level

  • Create a self-assessment tool for national authorities and higher education institutions to monitor policies on Inclusive Mobility around Europe and compare their own policies, knowing easily where they stand

  • Develop an online platform inclusivemobility.eu connected to existing MappED! platform, where national authorities will be able to register their information on regulations, policies, and support services

ESN believes that this project will make the Erasmus+ programme more accessible and that getting to experience the life-changing benefits of mobility will be easier for the groups that are currently underrepresented in the flagship EU programme.

Over time ESN has put a lot of effort into advocating for a more inclusive Erasmus+ programme through active involvement in different projects:

  • ExchangeAbility - Fostering Mobility of Students with Disabilities (coordinated by UNICA in cooperation with ESN and four UNICA members in 2010-2011),

  • MappAbility and MappED! – Inclusive mobility (coordinated by ESN - Erasmus+ Strategic partnerships - 2015-2017)

  • Inclusive Mobility Alliance that has been officially launched on the 22nd of January 2019 during a conference at the European Parliament gathering more than 20 organisations with expertise in Disability, Youth and Higher Education, the Alliance aims at making Erasmus+ more inclusive.