Joint effort to facilitate access to tertiary studies for people with disability

The National Commission Persons with Disability (KNPD), the University of Malta and Mcast have launched a pilot project aimed at making it easier for persons with disability and other socially-disadvantaged groups to take up university and tertiary studies.

They have teamed up and are cooperating within the framework of APT-Leonardo - Access to Professional Training for Persons with Disability, a project funded by the EU programme Leonardo da Vinci.

The project aims at encouraging and supporting disabled and socially-disadvantage persons to undertake university and third-level courses in social work, social policy, youth studies and social care, KNPD chairman Joe Camilleri said.

He explained that, due to a better understanding of their reality, persons with disability were well equipped - sometimes even better than others - to offer the services they were using themselves and help those in similar situations.

One of society's shortcomings was the fact that persons with disability did not continue their education and would find themselves lacking the necessary qualifications when they were empowered and wanted to integrate fully into society, Mr Camilleri said.

The course on Access To Professional Training is being offered by the Department of Social Policy and Social Work, within the Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy, and will be held between February and April. The first uptake would be no more that 60 participants.

It is also aimed at developing a learning approach that would serve as a model of good practice and allow the provision of such support and empowerment to spread throughout every level of university, Mcast and third-level courses, lecturer and project coordinator Charles Pace explained.

Each participant would be supported by a student-mentor for the duration of the preparatory APT course. In fact, university students are being prepared to act as mentors by encouraging, training and matching them with the mentee students that they would have to support.

The course consists of about 15 hours, including further sessions to introduce participants to the experience, the demands it carries and the profession it leads to. They are structured to help students develop key skills to pursue the course, Dr Pace said.

The project sees University of Malta and the KNPD partnering also with the Marie Curie Foundation and the Social Services Department of Sliven in Bulgaria, as well as the de Montfort University in Leicester.

KNPD and the university have appointed a steering committee to run the project, which would also be looking into the possibility of extending similar courses to other faculties at the university.

It is envisaged that it should open doors to more courses and measures that facilitate university and third-level studies for persons with disability.

University pro rector Mary Anne Lauri said there were about 40 persons with disability registered with the university's Disability Support Unit, with about 11 actively using the service. She said the numbers had increased over the years and that the united needed to be strengthened.

For more information, or to apply, contact andreadibben@onvol.net or charles.pace@um.edu.mt

http://www.apt-leonardo.org/Default.aspx