Introduction
The massification of tertiary education[1] across Europe, driven by policies to widen participation and diversify the student population, has resulted in a less homogenous student body. As a result, tertiary education institutions must adapt to the unique needs of all students, including those from non-traditional, underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds.
The Knowledge Innovation Centre (KIC) has initiated and actively participated in European cooperation projects, funded through the EU’s Erasmus+ framework, to address inclusivity in universities, colleges, and vocational education and training (VET) schools. These initiatives focus on identifying and overcoming structural and cultural barriers to student engagement, aiming to create a more inclusive environment.
The importance of engagement for student success
Student engagement in tertiary education is multi-dimensional. While it is closely linked to teaching and learning, it also encompasses involvement in student-led organisations, institutional governance, and policy-making. Engagement occurs at various levels, from course-specific activities to international initiatives, and often reflects the needs and interests of diverse student groups.
While academic success is vital, the development of essential competencies, such as critical thinking, communication, teamwork, and leadership, often happens outside the classroom. Participation in student engagement and civic activities fosters these skills, enhancing students’ employability and empowering them to address societal challenges.
Moreover, active student engagement fosters a sense of identity, belonging, and connection with the institution, which, in turn, enhances student retention and increases the likelihood of academic success.
Challenges to inclusive student engagement
However, tertiary education institutions across Europe have not yet achieved equitable opportunities for all students, and for many students, available engagement activities are not truly accessible. Personal, financial, and logistical challenges limit their participation in student life and prevent their talents of students from flourishing whilst leaving their voices underrepresented in institutional decision-making processes.
Students are a broad and diverse group, and an exact definition of students that could be considered non-traditional, underrepresented and disadvantaged is complicated as it differs across regions and depends on demographic, historical, and socio-cultural factors. Following the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps Inclusion and Diversity Strategy is useful to focus on potential barriers that these students may encounter that play a critical role in their overall educational experience, including:
- Disabilities and health issues
- Educational system constraints
- Cultural differences
- Social and economic barriers
- Discrimination
- Geographical limitations
Zooming in more specifically on student engagement and what commonly hinders diverse students from making full use of the possibilities student engagement in all its forms can offer them, the InclusiPHE and InclusiVET projects have identified five key challenges:
- Time and finance challenges: Many disadvantaged students are prevented from engaging in extracurricular activities, as they must work to support their studies, balance competing responsibilities like apprenticeships or family, and navigate rigid study schedules with limited financial support or flexibility for participation.
- Visibility challenges: There is often a lack of awareness among students about the impact of student engagement, unclear information about available opportunities, and concerns about whether engagement is accessible and effective, often compounded by insufficient support from teachers and a lack of success stories.
- Identification challenges: Non-traditional students may struggle to connect with engagement opportunities due to misalignment with their interests, identity, or perceived skill levels, compounded by stereotypical representations in school materials, unwelcoming formal meetings, and a lack of sensitivity or support from staff, which can deter active participation.
- Image challenges: Student engagement roles such as class representative are often perceived as popularity contests, intimidating selection processes, or activities geared toward younger learners, discouraging participation from less extroverted, older, or underrepresented students who may also feel overwhelmed by the pressure to succeed academically.
- Accessibility challenges: Barriers such as mobility challenges, language difficulties, and infrastructure limitations particularly affect international students, refugees, students with disabilities, and those living remotely, while complex jargon and lack of accessible resources further hinder participation for disadvantaged groups.
Opportunities for inclusive engagement
Making tertiary education inclusive requires tailored support from institutions to ensure inclusivity in every aspect of their higher education experience, including student engagement. The InclusiPHE and InclusiVET projects outline several strategies to address the barriers students from diverse backgrounds face, creating more welcoming and accessible environments for them to thrive, including:
- Flexible participation opportunities: Offering a variety of engagement options, including short-term projects, virtual meetings, or events that accommodate the schedules of students with multiple responsibilities.
- Increasing visibility of diversity: Promoting the presence and contributions of the student body in all its diversity to foster a culture of inclusion, including representing non-traditional students in promotional materials, increasing diversity in leadership roles, and celebrating diverse perspectives.
- Strengthening support systems: Enhancing financial aid, counselling services, academic support structures and mentorship programmes tailored to underrepresented students.
- Recognising engagement: Offering formal recognition, such as academic awards or financial incentives for student engagement.
- Training staff: Training and empowering (teaching) staff to understand and respond to the specific challenges faced by students from diverse backgrounds to promote an inclusive atmosphere in the classroom.
- Integration into curricula: Incorporating student engagement activities into the curriculum and offering academic credits for the key transversal skills students obtain through it.
Conclusion
Diversity and inclusion should be at the core of tertiary education institutions’ missions, ensuring that all students, regardless of their background, can fully participate in both academic and extracurricular activities. Achieving this goal may require institutions to rethink their approach to student engagement to accommodate the needs of a highly diverse student body. By breaking down structural and cultural barriers, offering flexible and visible engagement opportunities, and involving students in decision-making processes – including those from non-traditional and underrepresented backgrounds – tertiary education institutions can create a truly inclusive and supportive learning environment.
For more information on this topic and tools that can help to make student engagement more inclusive, please take a look at the following resources developed through our projects:
- Mapping Report: Needs assessment for student engagement of non-traditional students in PHE
- Online course for student support staff on inclusive engagement
- Institutional self-evaluation tool on inclusive student engagement in VET
- Guidelines for inclusive engagement action plans in VET institutions
- Database of best-practice cases on inclusion in education
[1] Tertiary education refers to all formal post-secondary education, including universities, colleges, technical training institutes, and vocational schools