Cuenca universities win international call with inclusion project
The project "Edutech -" Technological assistance to accessibility in Virtual Higher Education "was selected as the winner of more than 800 initiatives that were presented to obtain financing from the European Union
The Salesian Polytechnic University (UPS), together with the University of Azuay (UDA), through its research professors, are part of the winning team in the ERASMUS + Higher Education - International Capacity Building call.
The project will last three years and has a financing amount of more than 900.000 thousand euros, in addition to the participation of four European and four Latin American universities.
The professor of the UPS Cuenca headquarters, Paola Ingavélez, reported that this initiative began to take shape more than a year ago, from the joint work with the University of Alcalá, Spain; the University of Azuay and other universities to enhance accessibility in Virtual Higher Education.
“This achievement makes us proud by virtue of the fact that there were more than 800 proposals considered worldwide; this is a challenge for any research group that manages to win a project of this level that potentiates future innovations and undertakings associated with this topic ”.
For Mónica Rodas, professor at the UDA, being part of the project “is a great research and learning opportunity for teachers and students, to raise awareness about the need for labor and educational inclusion, as well as improving job and personal satisfaction at people with disabilities ”.
The project, whose technical coordination in Latin America is in charge of the UPS and its UNESCO Chair - Supportive Technologies for Educational Inclusion, arises to alleviate the problem of the application of technological accessibility in higher education institutions (IES) that in Our region has limited resources for the implementation of institutional strategies to care for diversity, particularly disability.
One of the actions to be highlighted in the project is the one aimed at training students from their entrance to their job placement. EduTech seeks to improve Accessible Virtual Education through the construction of management skills by establishing a Technology Accessibility Unit in the participating HEIs.
