UNAIR NEWS – As one of the leading universities in Indonesia, UNAIR strongly commits to create a disability-friendly campus. Making the best contribution, UNAIR Academic Directorate formed a team for inclusive education to facilitate the students with special needs during their study period at UNAIR.
Director of UNAIR Academic Directorate Prof Dr Sukardiman Apt MS stated the inclusive education team was aimed to map and identify the disabled students’ needs at the study program level.
“Understanding their needs will be a follow-up action for the Academic Directorate and Directorate of Facilities and Infrastructure in facilitating the accessibility infrastructure, such as walkways, bathrooms, entrances, and disabled-friendly elevators,” he said.
Professor Maman said that the team was also tasked to communicate the education model for disabled students to the study program lecturer. ”We hope lecturers and administrative staff acknowledge and adjust the education model for every disabled student,” he said.
Forming volunteer team for disabled student
Every year, UNAIR recruits volunteers to assist the disabled students’ learning process. Though the offer is open to all students, the selection stage with certain criteria was conducted to get highly committed and dedicated volunteers.
“The selected candidates are students with high empathy, caring, and sincerity in helping one another,” said Professor Maman.
Apart from the recruitment, the volunteers were given comprehensive training to improve their enthusiasm, learning motivation, and bond with the disabled students. This year, the team has followed the training and practice in doing their jobs as volunteers from June 18-19, 2022.
Synergy and Collaboration
Believing that continuous learning is one way to develop, UNAIR consistently invites and learns from other universities to increase knowledge and capabilities in providing services for disabled students. The implementation is manifested in the synergy between units at UNAIR to improve services and facilities for their needs.
UNAIR disabled students’ achievement
Disabled students in UNAIR often collected remarkable achievements. Yahya Muhammed Beh, a disabled student, successfully won the title of the best doctoral graduate in Social Sciences at the UNAIR graduation period I in 2022.
“We hope that this service contribution, the commitment of rectorate, and tremendous dedication of the lecturers and students will help the disabled students in their learning process and show their best potential,” he said.
This program is a part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implementation, particularly the fourth goal, to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education while supporting lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Author: Stefanny Elly
Editor : Binti Q. Masruroh
