Campus of International Excellence – Aristos Campus Mundus 2015

The first Aristos Campus Mundus Workshop on Inclusive Education in Practice was held

All excellent universities are distinctive for inclusion. This was the message that kicked off the Workshop on Inclusive Education in Practice, organised by Comillas, Deusto and Ramon Llull, within the framework of Aristos Campus Mundus 2015.  

“It is important to make inclusion a feature of excellence at all universities” stated Isabel Martínez Lozano, ONCE Foundation Commissioner for Universities and Special Plans. Luis Cayo Pérez, President of Cermi (Spanish committee of representatives for the disabled) went even further, saying: “a university community is not only better, but far more decent if it is inclusive”. They accompanied the Rector of Comillas, Julio L. Martínez, SJ, for whom “today’s circumstances mean we are constantly experiencing diversity”. For this reason, university students must experience the inclusion of diversity, “in the classroom and society”.

The three universities that form Aristos Campus Mundus are firmly convinced concerning this point and created the Foro de Educación Inclusiva, a space where ACM university community members can make contact and share knowledge and experiences to create and strengthen an inclusive university framework. And in the forum, Sandra Huertas, Director of the Comillas Social Work Unit; Xiomara Martínez Tolando, Head of the University of Deusto Social Action and Inclusion Service, and Climent Giné Giné, Professor Emeritus of the Faculty of Psychology, Education Sciences and Sport, Blaquerna-URL, spoke about these experiences.

The event closed with a series of specialist workshops where actions to achieve inclusive education were raised. Enrique Varela Couceiro, Chairman of the Social Technology Foundation, spoke on responsible social design and technology; Arturo San Román, Communication Manager of Servimedia, gave a talk on the value of communication in generating an inclusive culture; Elejabeitia Cilleruerlo, I+D+I Director at the Hune Institute, discussed diversity management in teaching while Sandra Huertas spoke on the personal competences involved in learning.