Scot Universities told to do more on equality for disabled and Deaf students
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Scotland’s universities, which receive over £1 billion in funding from the Scottish Government each year, must do more to meet their statutory obligations towards disabled people and British Sign Language (BSL) users according to a report from the Scottish Parliament’s Equalities and Human Rights Committee.
The Committee warned that failing to embed equalities risks creating grounds for future compensation claims by disabled people and BSL users whose statutory rights were not met.
Evidence from current and former students highlights the need to embed a culture of ownership of equalities policy and the Committee recommends universities should move from voluntary to mandatory training on equalities to ensure cultural change amongst academic staff.
The Committee further identified a number of other widespread issues across the sector from the admissions process, right through to supporting students to complete their studies and participate in university life.
Read more: http://www.parliament.scot/newsandmediacentre/103152.aspx
Image credit: dun_deagh, CC BY-SA 2.0