Project

Equitable access to higher education for students with disabilities and students from marginalized groups in Nepal

Project sponsors

Abbreviation
EATHEN
Project type
Development project
Focus area
Innovative Learning
Implementation time
15.11.2019 - 31.12.2022
Project unit
School of Professional Teacher Education
Financing program
Erasmus+ Key Action 2
Primary home page
https://www.jamk.fi/en/project/eathen
Project description

EATHEN - Equal Access to Higher Education for Students with Disabilities and from Marginalized Groups

Poverty and inequality are major challenges in Nepal. Low education level of individuals from disadvantaged groups and marginalized groups reflects to inequality. Access to and participation in education is essential requisite for equality and prosperity.  

EATHEN is a three year ERASMUS+ Capacity Building project which develops management and practices in the higher education of Nepal to enhance equity in access to education and support during the academic careers. 

The main goal is to enable students
with disabilities and students from marginalized groups to have access to higher
education and to support their participation in studies. 

The project aims at:

  1. Developing strategic cooperation between the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) and the universities in Nepal to increase the support to and commitment of universities to enhance equity in enrollment and during academic careers. A Letter of Intent will be composed in the project. This will guarantee the sustainability of the project`s outcomes.

  2. Developing organizational structure and new services for potential applicants from the above mentioned groups to enhance capacity building of the managers and teachers producing education services in Nepal, as well as to enhance capacity building of managers working in administration in universities and teachers teaching disabled students and students coming from disadvantaged or marginalized groups. This means that education will be organized and five properly equipped support centers with competent staff and well-planned services will be established. 

  3. Improving learning environment to facilitate students coming from above mentioned groups to start their studies in higher education institutes. There will be easy access environment, learning materials and capacity to support these students in the HEIs. 

The immediate impact will be the improved commitment in management of universities to enhance equity in access to and in support during the academic careers in HEIs. In addition, cooperation and contacts between universities and secondary level schools, local authorities and NGOs representing disabled and marginalized groups will be improved. Remarkable impact is the strengthened cooperation with the Ministry of Education.

The project is so called Structural Project where the Nepalese Ministry of Education, Science and Technology works as a partner. Other Nepalese partners are Tribhuvan University, main campus and two local campuses (Pokhara ja Dhankuta), Nepal Open University and Kathmandu University. The University of Bologna (Italy) and the University of Masaryk (the Czeck Republic) are European partners with University of Applied Sciences (JAMK). The project was started in a kick off and workshop in Kathmandu in November 2019. 

More information on EATHEN project's webpage: www.jamk.fi/eathen

Project results
To reach the main goal the partner universities did a baseline study and after that mapped out challenges of the target groups living in faraway remote areas of the country, discussed with community and school representatives. Based on the tours to remote areas the Nepalese partners prepared an extensive database
 that has been introduced and discussed with the ministry to ensure the sustainability. The database also supported the establishment of 5 Support centers and activity strategies. At the same time the universities are purchasing equipment to the Support Centers (hardware and software).

The fist training module was implemented in December 2021 for administrative and pedagogical staff of the centers. The next module was implemented in the last week of January 2022. The University of Masaryk (CZ)  trained the Support center staff  in the spring 2022. The focus wason teaching use of the purchased software.

The project  followed virtual mode until spring 2022 execp the kick-off in the beginning of the project in November 2019. All discussions, workshops and benchmarking visit were organized online. Finally in May 2022 the benchmarking visits to the Teiresias center in the University of Masaryk,  Brno CZ and the University of Bologna in Italy were possible.

One brilliant outcome is the admission policy change at the University of Kathmandu. They opened a quota for students with disabilities and students from marginalized groups for the first time in Nepal.

The Ministry for Education, Science and Technology in Nepal (MoEST) traveled to Finland, CZ and Italy for benchmarking. The visit to JAMK and to the Ministry for Education in Finland focused on the accessability legislation and paractices. 

Based on the project activities and benchmarkings MoEST prepared a Letter of Intent, which is a sustainability plan for the outcomes of the EATHEN-project. MoEST also updated the Master Plan for Inclusion 2019-2023 and added a chapter no.4.3 (Inclusion in higher education level).
 More information on EATHEN project's webpage: www.jamk.fi/eathen