Educational Inclusion in Higher Education: a Systematic Review

Abstract

In this paper, we make a review of the academic production about inclusion of people with disabilities in the Mexican Higher Education, in the last ten years. We worked with national and international databases and focused on papers published in Spanish. A total of 37 texts was gathered, which we organized in two trends: those derived from empirical research and those who made policy analysis. Regarding the former, we found 15 papers, nine referring to students with different disabilities and six focused on a single type of disability. Another kind of papers, also with empirical results, includes those that analyze the ideas and attitudes of educational subjects towards disability, where we identified eight papers. Concerning the analyses of policies for inclusion, we found 14 texts that were divided into three categories: those that examine the impact of federal policies, comparative analyses between institutions, and those that focus on a single educational institution. In general, inclusion in Higher Education is a line of study which is still in the process of consolidation in our country. It is necessary to develop more research that goes beyond case studies, as well as quantitative inquiries that provide a broader picture of the circumstances of students with disabilities.