Some universities still need to do more to secure disability equality, despite improved support for disabled students over the past ten years.

The findings are the result of research by the University of Leeds and funded by the Higher Education Funding Councils for England and Wales (HEFCE and HEFCW) as part of a review of HEFCE's policy as it relates to disabled students.

Good practice requires that accessibility is integrated into new buildings and refurbishments, and there was some evidence of this in the review. But it is possible that some universities are still designing new buildings without considering the needs of disabled students, according to Professor Malcolm Harrison of the Centre for Disability Studies at Leeds, whose team looked at 96 institutions across England and Wales.

They found an inconsistent pattern of provision – with some universities fully in tune with the needs of their disabled students, and others much less aware of these issues.

Prof Harrison said the research showed that despite many improvements over recent years, universities need to do more to become fully supportive and accessible for disabled students: “We found lots of examples across the sector of innovations to make educational systems and the learning and physical environments more receptive to the needs of disabled students.

“The downside is that even today one can still find new buildings with accessibility problems for wheelchair users – and this implies that some building committees are just not properly considering the needs of disabled students. This reflects a more general need to establish fuller consultation with disabled students about policies.”

At the same time, the researchers found that some universities were not ensuring that their disability equality schemes were easily accessible on their website. “This is a basic requirement,” said Prof Harrison. “It ought to be possible to log in to a university's website and find it and although it could be found in the majority of cases, in several institutions it was not readily available. Universities are supposed to be proactive in this regard and to not have this is rather unfortunate.”

Researchers also carried out further interviews with staff and students from seven universities: “People told us how important it is for senior central staff to be committed to disability issues, while the ongoing contribution of management seems critical to universities getting things right. More foresight is needed, and fuller consultation with disabled students about policies. This applies when developing learning, teaching and assessment methods, or when planning buildings and facilities.”

“We came across some really good examples of Universities which had been tackling this – Leeds Trinity University College for example – but some others were falling a long way short.”

Looking ahead, the research team is concerned about the future. Many universities have relied on external funding when developing their responses to disability, so that cuts in funds now could be very damaging. As Prof Harrison puts it: “With the current economic crisis, disability issues shouldn't just be shunted to the back of the queue and made less of a priority.”

And while Prof Harrison admits that some access issues are made problematic by old or historic buildings, he says there is scope for investing more in the electronic capability of sites, creating a “Smart Campus” where versatile electronic learning systems, automatic doors, and better cross-campus access facilities combine to create an environment where disabled students can learn on a level playing field with their non-disabled counterparts.

Steve Egan, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Finance and Corporate Resources at HEFCE, commented on the findings of the review: “Our policy review has shown that there have been significant developments in the support that is provided to disabled students in the sector.

“However, although good progress has been made, there are still some areas in which improvements can be made and further support provided. Our aim is to encourage and support institutions to take a strategic approach to equalities issues more broadly. As part of this we will work with our partners to develop inclusive institutional cultures that embody a social model of disability and are anticipatory, proactive and flexible.”

The results of HEFCE's review and their future policy and strategy for supporting the sector in meeting the needs of disabled students has been published in an outcomes document (2009/49).


The HEFCE review of its policy relating to disabled students can be found HERE