Inclusive University

Abstract

The present paper assumes that mutual inclusion is equal to successful personal and collective progress, while continuous and targeted interventions serving it are collectively marked by the term inclusive. Inclusive model is understood in this paper as a complex system of interventions which is aimed in all its segments at a coexistence increasing individual success while it also supports planning and controlling efforts made for inclusion in different places, times and communities.

The field of education is in a particularly favourable condition regarding inclusive model development as it is also highlighted by the historical examples brought in this paper. Within the field, the author focuses on higher education in which the idea of inclusion is being spread reinforced by the conception of Inclusive Excellence. According to the conception, Inclusive Excellence establishes a qualitatively new academic environment profitable for all participants by employing diversity to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Thus, an environment aiming to achieving academic excellence is able to undergo qualitative renewal if following an inclusive approach and becoming more and more inclusive. The paper creatively utilizes the author's oneand-a-half-decade research work related to inclusion, her practical experience and the general research model she based on her experience. These are completed by a system-based overview of the models of inclusion in higher education with which the author aims to support the work of the research and development team preparing the professional proposal titled "Inclusive University" in affiliation with the University of Pécs. The author hopes that there also are more and more Hungarian higher education institutions which adopt inclusiveness as a part of their academic mission in the spirit of recognized qualitative renewal.