Academic and Professional Guidance for Tertiary Students with Disabilities: Gathering Best Practices throughout European Universities

Abstract

The exponential increase of students with disabilities enrolled at universities of different countries has urged these institutions to enable some services geared to their guidance, both academic and professional level. However, the international literature shows that these initiatives, in some realities, are still disconnected from the broader socioeconomic context. In order to find possible solutions to this issue, the objective of this research was to explore, in an international level, initiatives related to the academic and professional guidance of students with disabilities. In this direction this case study has been realized with the participation of 81 tertiary students with disabilities , 14 academic counselors and 68 professional mentors from Italy, France, Ireland, Den-mark and England. The overall analysis of the results emerged from this research has allowed identifying, in an international perspective, the strengths of each reality explored. The reflections on these elements have directed the proposition of indicators which can contribute to the scientific and academic communities on the implementation, evaluation and monitoring of a potential academic and professional guidance program for tertiary students with disabilities.