<< Background >>Knowledge of foreign languages is essential not only as an intrinsic part of modern education but is also considered as a means to improve the students’ future social and professional success. Gaining solid command of a foreign language, however, is not a straightforward process for Deaf, deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) learners. There are different reasons for that. - The predominant current methodology for teaching English as a Foreign Language involves active teaching strategies centred on oral conversations, interactive group exchanges and individual role play. However, DHH individuals have specific educational needs in the context of learning foreign languages. If these teaching methods are not adapted to incorporate the visual, non-auditory learning strategie the learning may be an experience of exclusion (Nunn, Yang, Tóthová, Sedláčková 2021).- DHH learners have limited access to learning audio-oral languages, learning often exclusively or primarily the written form of the chosen foreign language. Their participation in standard language courses offered at universities and outside them is therefore problematic, as the materials and content of mainstream courses are generally not easy to be accessed by DHH learners and not culturally relevant. - The field of teaching foreign languages to DHH students has only recently been receiving appropriate attention (Domagała-Zyśk 2015) and it is affected by the scarcity of culturally relevant teaching and learning materials.- Research on the experiences of Czech DHH students of English has also shown their inclination to assign responsibility for their own failure or success in learning mainly to their teachers (Sedláčková and Kontra 2020). DHH learners have been identified as dependent learners, relying on directed learning, which alongside social and literacy issues, negatively influences the educational success of DHH learners (Scherer and Walter 1988).- Another significant reason learners generally struggle with foreign language learning is the fact they lack suitable study skills and strategies. The currently published instructional texts may not be particularly suitable for DHH learners because of their structure, or they may not be culturally relevant to them as this is a particularly under researched area and both instructors as well as DHH learners lack sources to learn more about it.<< Objectives >>The objectives lying at the core of the project are the following: - To provide better awareness about learning styles and strategies among DHH foreign language higher education learners;- To consider how the learning styles and strategies surveys might be adapted to suit the needs of DHH learners learning foreign languages; - To provide DHH foreign language learners and their teachers with an adapted learning styles and strategies surveys so that they could be able to test themselves and learn the results raising their own autonomy as foreign language learners and feeling more in control of the learning process;- To provide DHH learners and teachers with a resource pack that would inform them about the assets of the surveys and of finding one’s preferred learning preferences; - To collect tips and hints suggested by successful foreign language learners to motivate other DHH foreign language learners to find or reassess their own learning preferences supporting self-reflection;- To make foreign language learning experience more efficient for DHH learners;- To engage DHH communities in a dialogue about the topical issue of learning foreign languages;- To provide DHH foreign language higher education learners with a unique multilingual and multicultural academic opportunity to meet and share their experience and best practices; - To promote dialogue and best practice sharing;- To collect information about the styles and strategies that prevail among DHH learners as such data is largely missing;- To open a discussion with experts in the field of English as a Foreign Language for DHH learners about the learning styles and strategies of these learners.<< Implementation >>The project aims to improve the quality of foreign language education for DHH learners by drawing attention to the importance of using effective foreign language learning strategies and encouraging autonomy in DHH learners by designing a set of resources. The project aims to:- adapt the learning styles and strategies surveys in order to allow DHH learners assess themselves and choose those that suit their needs;- undertake research into the learning styles and strategies of DHH foreign language learners using the adapted surveys in order to gain more data and knowledge about their learning preferences;- create a bank of tips and strategies suggested by successful DHH learners who will act as role models motivating DHH learners on their foreign language learning pathway; - design a set of resources for teachers and self-access learners, describing how to take the results of one's learning preferences into account in order to give the best results;- hold a series of summer schools to extend the learning outside the classroom and enable the DHH foreign language learners to discuss possibilities for adopting different ways of acquiring and practising a foreign language;- organize an international conference and national seminars for the interested public to share the results and materials to a wide public.<< Results >>The area of learning styles and strategies of DHH learners is heavily under researched, yet adopting suitable learning styles and strategies is crucial in order to ensure a successful foreign language learning experience. Mastering these skills may not only improve learners’ performance in school, but also their ability to learn foreign languages in general which they can benefit from their whole life. The project therefore wishes to help fill this gap. The project aims to create the following outcomes:- adapt the language styles and strategies surveys for DHH learners (O1);- undertake research into the area of language styles and strategies of DHH learners (O2);- create a learning styles and strategies resource pack for teachers and self-access DHH learners (O3);- collect practical tips and strategies used by successful DHH English as a Foreign Language learners (O4).Along the above mentioned intellectual outputs, the following activities will enrich the project:- a series of summer schools to encourage sharing of best practices (C1, C2, C3);- an international conference for the interested public to engage in a wider discussion (E1);- national seminars for teachers of English as a Foreign Language to DHH learners in order to share the project results and to engage in a wider discussion at national level as well (E2, E3, E4);- a project’s website describing the project and its aims will be set up and used as a platform to share the project outcomes and a series of dissemination activities will help spread the results of the project.

Data at the institutional level as well as regional and European research provide hard evidence that inequality of opportunities persists all throughout higher education (HE). Characteristics such as among others, sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity, skin colour, religion, able-bodiedness, or socioeconomic class often influence access to and success, and belonging in HE.The experiences of COVID lockdown education show that students in vulnerable situations have been affected disproportionately by the measures taken, putting precisely those groups that were already struggling at an increased risk of exclusion. When students in more vulnerable situations fall victim to a renewed HE in the 21st century, this imposes an unacceptable mortgage on human and social welfare.At the same time, online education has a strong potential to enhance inclusive excellence, because of flexibility, access, diversification, and participation. This has not yet been systematically inventoried, implemented nor validated. In most cases, the transition to online education has primarily consisted of a mere shifting of existing educational concepts, working methods, and assessments of analog education to the digital context. The question of what inclusion means in the context of online education, and how to best establish this in online or hybrid, is yet unclear. And since inclusion often is not even a primary focus of analog education, it is consequently also not written into the core of digitized education. The educational changes necessitated by the COVID pandemic create a window of opportunity in which we should seize the moment to rethink education and to evolve towards an excellent education that is at its core inclusive. The e-Inclusion brings together a consortium of four universities and two policy-focused organisations with leading expertise in both inclusion policy and digital learning to:- support educators in implementing inclusive models of digital education in blended and hybrid environments- assure that the accelerated transition to digital education prompted by the COVID-19 crisis does not exclude vulnerable groups from participation in HE or exacerbate existing inequalities- take advantage of the opportunities of digitization to reduce structural barriers for exclusionIn this project, we develop a research-based inclusive excellence toolkit, consisting of separate building blocks for teachers to develop inclusive online education that is tailored to specific phases, aspects, and contexts of inclusion. Handbook for Inclusive Digital EducationThis will propose a vision for inclusive education that covers contexts of hybrid and blended learning. It will identify drivers of exclusion, which will cover 'traditional' exclusion drivers, but also identify new elements of exclusion which may be new to or exacerbated by the response to COVID-19. We will use desk research and expert-consultation to then isolate a set of success factors for digital inclusion, backed up by examples of good practice. Micro-Learning Modules on Inclusion in Digital Education ContextsThis will be designed around a set of 15-20 skills for digital inclusion, with a micro-module being designed to acquire each skill by following a challenge-based approach that will instruct leaders by giving the opportunity to practice and develop the required skill. The course will take a self-directed free-flowing approach, to allow participants to personalize their own learning pathways based on their specific needs. Digital Inclusion CourseFor those who prefer to (a) experience a course designed with inclusion in mind via a learning management system, and (b) gain all the skills outlined above via a linear pathway, we will also create, moderate, and assess a course based on the modules. Awareness Raising ToolThe foundation of all the above-mentioned tools is an awareness module, which helps teachers explore their own identity and positionality, based on the premise that teachers are not neutral outsiders to the students’ learning process, but are part of the classroom dynamics.The project will offer around 150 educators the ability to further develop strategies that work against the social reproduction of in digital settings. It will enhance universities’ expertise in promoting an inclusive digitally-mediated personalized learning environment for every student, by working towards opportunities for a diversity of students to construct a strong sense of belonging. In the long term, the project will impact a change in organizational culture to create and sustain a more inclusive university by developing a systemic approach that integrates a vision of high-quality digital education and also a vision on supporting diverse students' engagement in meaningful learning experiences.

At EU level there are no homogeneous mechanisms to track students in Higher Education lifecycle (Entry, Education, Exit) nor models to anticipate students’ needs that take into account subjective elements. Seldom HEIs assess relevance and impact of their student support services. Such gaps are best captured by “Report to the EU Commission”2013 High Level Group on Modernisation of HE “a still underdeveloped area in EU is the tracking of students”. The report urges HEIs to “establish counselling, guidance, mentoring and tracking systems to support students”. The EU Commission “Report on Progress in Quality Assurance in HE”2014 confirms that better tracking of students and anticipating their needs is a priority, but that “at present only 40% of HEIs do so”. The “Agenda for Modernisation of EU HE Systems” identifies the answer to those challenges in “tailored guidance to inform study choices and reduce drop-out”. Against this background WISE aims at enhancing the welfare of students as a means to improve their performance, personal and professional development through improved tracking systems and student support services. The objective of WISE is to develop an innovative methodology to track students in the educational lifecycle taking into account both objective and subjective elements so as to better assess their needs and provide tailored support services.Six partners representing HEIs, HEIs associations and student support service providers bring together complementary experiences and knowledge to devise innovative student tracking and needs’ identification mechanisms. The partnership is representative of EU HE ecosystems, reflecting the various connotations of EU’s diversity: large and small Member States; Eastern, Nordic and Mediterranean realities; various size of HEIs and student bodies. Directly and indirectly, the partnership represents a wide network of HEIs in 4 countries. WISE involved directly 126.377 students in the primary research and 33.917 in the pilot stage, ensuring the student-cantered approach of the innovative model. WISE immediate target groups are the students (on the demand side of tracking and support services) and the support service providers within HEIs (on the supply side).The long term beneficiaries of project results are primarily the students enrolled in the HEIs represented in the partnership, amounting to a total of 340.000.Other potential beneficiaries are students enrolled in other HEIs throughout Europe.Partners carried out research and analysis to identify drivers and inhibitors in the area of student tracking and needs identification. The research results allowed partners to pinpoint indicators, variables and response mechanisms that in the modelling activities have been embedded into the multidimensional WISE model and matrix. The partners run pilots of WISE model and matrix in real-life case scenarios to test and validate with the target groups of users (students) and providers (HEIs’ support service providers) of tracking and needs identification mechanisms in higher education. The pilots was crucial to fine tune and validate the WISE model and matrix that in its final version was disseminated and exploited at EU level by the partners. WISE main results:- Report on “Students’ Welfare and Social Dimension of HE: Demand and Supply Side Perspectives for Improved Tracking” details the research approach and consolidate findings and analysis on the various dynamics of students’ tracking, needs anticipation and welfare- Validated WISE Model and Methodology: it allows to track more accurately HE students, assess and anticipate their needs taking into account also subjective elements, and provide more relevant, timely and appropriate tailored support services.Specifically, WISE produced the following impacts1. HEIs are better equipped to properly track students throughout the entire educational lifecycle2. HEIs can assess students’ needs taking into account also subjective factors3. HEIs are able to anticipate students’ needs with more relevant support services4. Students – especially disadvantaged groups – have better access to education5. Increased educational attainment, performance and retentionThe partnership was strongly committed to long-term benefits of WISE and its deployment across EU and other HEIs. The innovative multidimensional tracking and needs assessment methodology can be flexibly adjusted to other EU Realities.Tanks to the structure of the consortium and to existing networks, project results will be disseminated at least 2 years after the EU co-financing.

"""European Eastern University"" project was implemented since September 1, 2014 till October 31, 2016 by the City of Lublin in partnership with 5 universities: 3 from Lublin and 2 foreign ones - from Lithuania and Slovakia. They are: Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Lublin University of Technology, Mykolas Romeris University from Vilnius and the Catholic University in Ruzomberok.The project objectives were as follows:- To promote Lublin as an academic city,- To improve and strengthen the cooperation of the City of Lublin with Lublin universities and foreign partners in order to obtain best practices for creating educational and non-educational offer of Lublin for students from the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries,- To support policies of Lublin universities in acquisition of foreign students and in education on study programmes tailored to the needs of potential employers in Lublin and EaP countries through transfer of good practices from other academic centres in EU and by adapting study programmes to the needs of labour markets of Lublin and EaP countries,- To provide students with favourable conditions for education by diversifying the city's offer addressed to students (including foreign students from EaP countries).The project began with 3 researches:- Research on foreign students studying in Lublin concerning the quality of received educational offer, needs of its changes, complementary offer and quality of life in the city - survey supplemented by in-depth interviews,- Research on motivation of potential foreign students – survey conducted with use of an electronic tool among young persons for EaP countries,- Desk research on existing solutions and best practises concerning the offer for foreign students.Action providing international learning and exchange of experiences were 3 study visits with workshops held in Lublin, Vilnius and Ruzomberok and used to acquire good practices of partners and to obtain recommendations to improve educational and non-educational offer. Each visit ended with a report summarizing the course of the visit and gathering good practices presented during it.Each of Lublin universities created a new study programme tailored to the needs of students from EaP countries. They are: postgraduate studies in the field of Central and Eastern Europe development offered by KUL, postgraduate studies “The citizen and the enterprise in the internal market of the EU” offered by UMCS and a specialization ""Sustainable building"" within the ""Environmental engineering"" offered by the Lublin University of Technology.Within the project a joint publication was created containing comprehensive solutions to improve study offer in Lublin for students from EaP countries. It is a summary and a set of knowledge gained through research and study visits. Also joint information materials ""Study in Lublin!"" of the City of Lublin and universities involved in project were developed. Their aim is to encourage young people from EaP countries to study in Lublin, especially on study programmes developed within the project. The materials were developed in 4 languages: Polish, English, Ukrainian and Russian.Throughout the duration of the project the website at www.euw.lublin.eu was carried out. The project ended with a conference summing it up and promoting its results, which gathered approx. 250 participants mainly from Poland, EaP countries (mainly Ukraine and Belarus) and representatives of project partners from Slovakia and Lithuania.Products developed during the project are: report from research on foreign students studying in Lublin, report from research on motivation of potential foreign students, report from desk research on existing solutions and best practices, 3 reports of study visits, joint publication containing comprehensive solutions to improve the study offer in Lublin for students from EaP countries, 3 new study programmes, project website and common information materials of the City of Lublin and Lublin universities involved in the project.Among the results of the project, it is worth mentioning the increase of knowledge of involved university staff on creating educational offer for students from EaP countries, on their needs for higher education and non-educational issues as well as increase of knowledge of academics and local government employees on creation of partnerships of local government and universities for creating offer for foreign students. In long term, the project will contribute to increase of the number of students from EaP countries studying in Lublin, increase of their knowledge and improvement of their chances on labour markets in EU and EaP countries thanks to new study programmes and to the overall improved match of educational and non-educational offer to needs of foreign students. The project has also positively affected the cooperation between the City of Lublin and universities - all partners expressed their will and need to continue cooperation."

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 466 million people worldwide have a disabling hearing loss, 34 million of which are children. They estimate that by 2050, the number of people with disabling hearing loss could rise to 900 million people. In Belgium, since July 2019, a decree allows deaf students to continue their learning in mainstream education until the end of secondary school in bilingual classes where lessons are given both in French and in sign language. However, the word “Deaf” only refers to those who cannot rely on oral speech at all, whereas technological innovation currently allows more and more hearing-impaired students to use hearing aids and cochlear implants, which means that they don’t always need to rely on sign language for communication anymore.The French speaking deaf Belgian federation (Fédération Francophone des Sourds de Belgique) estimates that around 13% of hearing-impaired individuals use sign language for communication which means that 87% of hearing-impaired people still need a different solution such as hearing aids and cochlear implants. This situation is reflected throughout the EU. The “Manifesto on Hearing Loss and Disability” (2017) by The European Coalition on Hearing Loss and Disability states that attending mainstream education with early cochlear implantation allows 44-66% of deaf students to attain age-appropriate reading scores.Nevertheless, these solutions are often not enough for them to hear as clearly as a hearing person, especially in noisy environments. Classrooms are a blatant example as they are often rather noisy, and their settings aren’t always adapted to the needs of deaf students. Lip-reading is one of the most used techniques to overcome this, but it is often incomplete since many sounds look very much alike on the lips. For instance, in French, only 30% of spoken language can be understood solely from lip-reading. At school, this can create a significant barrier to the acquisition of important skills and knowledge, especially since classroom settings don’t always provide the best environment for learners to successfully read on their teacher’s lips. As hearing-impaired students no longer exclusively attend special schools, teachers in mainstream education still need more tools to meet all their students’ needs.Transnational collaboration in this project is crucial in order to develop common methods and approaches. This process fits the current desire of several associations and federations such as the NCSA and the ALPC to form an International Committee for Cued Speech to standardize, update and modernize the trainings, use the IPA, and foster collaboration between the different Cued Speech organizations, centralizing and increasing the access to the materials.Goal of the project Our project aims to promote Cued Speech, a very simple technique for the hearing impaired to use with their families, friends, trainers, and teachers. It is a lip-reading accompaniment technique allowing them to understand spoken language, when used by the majority of people around them. Its French adaptation uses 5 positions around the face to represent 16 sounds-vowels and 8 configurations of the hand representing 21 sounds-consonants. These gestures accompany lip-reading, allowing for the hearing-impaired person to better visualize what their interlocutor is saying. According to the tests conducted by Uchanski, Delhorne, Dix, Et al. in “Automatic speech recognition to aid the hearing impaired: prospects for the automatic generation of cued speech”, this method allowed deaf people to go from 25% of understanding a complex message to 84%. It can be used in private settings with family and friends, but our project will mainly focus on school education and training. As it has been shown that the cost of hearing loss is highly due to social isolation and unemployment, such a technique can be an asset to tackle early school leaving and provide a better access to the labor market for people with hearing loss.Research by Hage, Alegría, Laybaert Et al. has also shown that Cued Speech can help in morphosyntax development, which leads to an improvement in reading, spelling and lexicon acquisition. These results bring great possibilities for other students such as those with learning disorders or a low level of literacy. The use of this method could thus not only foster better inclusion for deaf people but could also be of great benefit in developing the literacy skills of all students in the classroom.