Inclusive Engagement of Non-Traditional Students in Professional Higher Education (2021)
Stronger together
The world is changing, and so is higher education. The challenges of tomorrow cannot solely be resolved with today’s knowledge but by equipping all students with the necessary skills for doing so. However, this ambitious undertaking is not an obvious one. It needs students to engage with their institutions beyond classes and lectures, to become a full part of their higher education institutions.
However, in order for students to do so, they must feel like their institution is a place for all of them – welcome – and for this, all parts of the study journey must reflect the diversity of the student body. However, many students face specific challenges and barriers for becoming an integral part of the institution. In order to address these barriers, we must understand them and work towards representing all students on different levels. All students must feel welcome in student engagement and representation in order to reflect barriers and challenges for making higher education institutions adapt and change.
This report is the first step and the basis for addressing the related challenges in making Professional Higher Education more inclusive. It is the result of an iterative and multi-approach research conducted in the first half of the year 2021 and providing the basis for the next steps of the InclusiPHE project. The objectives of the research undertaken are summarized in the following figure.
