Inclusion in the academy as a challenge to interculturality

Abstract

The capacity of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to adopt policies and dynamics that promote interculturality for student inclusion, is a challenge considering the reports, by the participants in this study, of academic exclusion experiences; The aim of this study was to understand the experiences lived in the academy, as inclusion/exclusion phenomena, considering institutional policies and dynamics; Concerning the methods, qualitative, phenomenological-hermeneutic study using phenomenological interviews with thirty one members of the academic community (students, teachers and non-teachers) from a Portuguese HEI, from April to July 2019, supported by qualitative data analysis using Nvivo12. This work is part of a broader project entitled “Inclusive practices in Higher Education: The challenge of building a community”, authorized by the Ethics Committee of the Institution involved. In terms of results, the emerging categories were Experience and meaning of inclusion, with emphasis on “Indiscrimination”, “Equality and equity” and “Integration into the community”; Barriers to inclusion in the institution, with an emphasis on “Architectural Barriers”, “Institutional hierarchical disarticulation” in the adoption of inclusive policies and dynamics and “linguistic difficulties”; and the category Feelings lived in exclusion experiences, with the participants emphasizing “devaluation”, “loneliness” and “sadness”. In conclusion, participants consider that the main institutional challenges to inclusion and interculturality are focused on breaking down architectural and language barriers, so that buildings have adequate access for all types of mobility, guarantee their integration and minimize feelings of devaluation, loneliness, and sadness.