A team of specialists from Turkey travelled to the Netherlands for 3 days at Handicap+Studie, Utrecht, NL, on 10-11-12 December 2008.  

Day 1: introduction to H+S, meeting with staff, presentations on the current situation, and the history of support for disabled university students in the Netherlands.  Reflection, discussion and meeting with a panel of experts.

Day 2 will be attended by 4th associate member European Association for International Education (EAIE) representative: All TIU members will meet for the first time.  Presentations will be on 'TIU, achievements so far' and 'a European overview of inclusion of disabled university students'.  Afternoon meetings will focus on TIU operational strategy and priorities.  

Day 3: visits to two universities in Amsterdam.  

The team consisted of Osman Biçer and Nurcan Köse from Mustafa Kemal University (MKU), Claire Özel from the Middle East Technical University (METU), Ahmet Zeki Ünal from Yuzuncu Yil University (YYU), Hatice Şahin from Ege University and Melek Yücel from the Netherlands Institute for Higher Education (NIHA).  

December 10, 2008 Wednesday

At the Handicap+Studie offices in Utrecht, the Turkish team met the team at Handicap+Studie. Irma van Slooten gave a presentation about Handicap+Studie and how it works.

Several students with different disabilities talked about their needs and what strategies and solutions were used to develop appropriate conditions.

A student counsellor explained how student counsellors deal with students with disabilities and we had the opportunity to discuss the different situations in Holland and in Turkey.  Different ways used to develop the awareness of university staff and of disabled students include training and simulation.

The meeting ended with the motto: Don’t talk about disabled students talk with them!

H+S doesn’t focus on the disabilities but on the hindrances that cause the disability. Their recent campaign focusses on the need of all disabled students, whatever their disability, to have extra time: to work in different ways or manage pain or lack of energy.

December 11, 2008 Thursday

At Handicap+Studie (Utrecht): for the first time all TIU project members were present, including new members Ege University and EAIE. Claire Özel (TIU assistant manager)  presented ‘TIU so far’ (powerpoint ), and discussed future TIU activities. 

New associate EAIE was represented by the Relations Development Manager Vera de Hen.  She presented ‘EU policy on disabilities’ (power point) and reflected on EU priorities over the years. EAIE has about 200 members (individual) and about 1000 universities as members. TIU is now associate member of EAIE and can consider attending the next annual conference in Madrid.  Future TIU activities will be attended by members of EAIE Special Interest Group on disability, DIW (Disability Issues Worldwide).

In the afternoon we discussed how all partners can work together better. The steps to be taken are as follows:

1. The timetable for the different steps of the Project have to be confirmed. TIU 7 has to be done in November to meet the CSD deadline.
2. The agenda has to be gone through.
3. What is TIU setting out to achieve? Putting out a mission statement would be helpful.
4. Training of Trainers and students will be in Ankara in June was discussed at length:
• What kind of things are going to be dealt in the training: Claire will collect ideas and correspond with Irma. 
• What resources and frameworks exist in different countries, in different universities? Are there student counsellors and/or psychologists, and what are their roles? The mindsets of the teacher are important. What means do they have to address the students. How can they keep the students motivated? The Turkish team must answer these questions.
• Who is meant by “trainer”? The disability coordinators of the universities in Turkey, or people who will train them: should the first training be open to all, or limited to those who will train others later. A network is needed to train teachers, counsellors, and other staff how to deal with disabled students.

The final session of the afternoon was given by Jan Westgeest.  He described the 4 levels of organisation for providing appropriate conditions for disabled students.  First the laws must be understood: often there are good laws (what are the abilities and responsibilities of different people), but the difficulty is putting them into practice.  The EU required equal rights for all in EU countries. In 2003 the Netherlands started to used it. One particularly effective structure is the Commission for Equal Treatment (CET). Before going to the official court, a student can apply to CET to decisde about their case.  CET is an informal advisory body, that meets only when there is a complaint.    

Communication is important: Is information available, and can people express their needs to the right authority?  There are different ways of collecting information and empowering people to express themselves effectively. A national survey (2001 and 2003) showed that 15% of university students have got a disability; half of these are disadvantaged because of their disability. The way the survey was done was important: universities cannot get this number of students to disclose their needs soon enough, before their difficulties become serious. 

December 12, Friday 2008

Visits to two universities in Amsterdam:

Hoegeschool von Amsterdam

 Student counsellor Liddy von de Laag showed a film ‘Students with functional limitations’ made in a project with their university and the University of Amsterdam. The film includes students with dyslexia and autism, which in Turkey are not yet considered as disabilities.  The film was made to show teachers/lecturers how a disability can affect the life/learning of a student, and the role they can have in improving students’ quality of life. The focus is the students’ needs, not their disability.

Where is the student counsellor in the university’s hierarchy?  The student counsellor, a confidence person, must be connected to the highest level of the university.  They must be in connection with all services of the university, with information about technology and training, processes and standards (how does a student demonstrate they have dyslexia? How is the test done?  Are tests suited to the student: there is no Adult dyslexia test in Turkish, not yet). 

Universityof Amsterdam

Head of Internation Student Affairs, Willeke Jeeninga, explained the UoA hierarchy.

Student Counsellor, Karin van Spriel, talked about dealing with problems. Support is ‘customer-led’, answering questions of students.  Often they come asking for material facilities when facing a specific barrier.  We discussed in particular the needs of autistic students, students with dyslexia, and students with mental health problems.