University of Galway has been announced as a partner of the new, national ALTITUDE Project to promote inclusive educational opportunities at third level.  

Funded by the Higher Education Authority, ALTITUDE – the National Charter for Universal Design in Tertiary Education, marks the start of a national conversation about how the sector can embed a universal design approach to providing education. 

The project is an extensive cross sectoral collaboration involving six national agencies, 15 higher education institutions and six Education and Training Board representatives. 

Launched today at the at the AHEAD Panorama Conference, the ALTITUDE Project will support higher education and ETBs to move towards systemically embedding university design with the aim of fostering student success for all. 

The ALTITUDE Charter recommends key strategic enablers for institutions in order to support the sustainable implementation of universal design and proposes collaborative action to work towards goals under 4 key pillars of our institutions: 

• Learning, Teaching & Assessment; 
• Supports, Services & Social Engagement;  
• The Physical Environment;  
• The Digital Environment 

President of University of Galway Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh said: “A long-standing flagship action of our values-led University strategy is to adopt the principles of universal design in our working and learning environment to make it inclusive of, and accessible to, all in our diverse community. We do this through our Universal Design and Accessibility policy, action plan and working group. I commend this cross sectoral effort, of which we are a leading partner, to develop the ALTITUDE Charter as a unified national approach to promoting accessible and inclusive practices in higher and further education. At University of Galway, we look forward to sharing universal design practice with colleagues across the sector.” 

The ALTITUDE Project is funded under the Programme for Access to Higher Education – PATH 4, which is managed by the HEA and is a two-phase programme supporting inclusive, universally designed higher education environments and course provision for students with intellectual disabilities. 

For more information, or to download the Charter and Technical Report, click here or watch the ALTITUDE introductory video here. 

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