Admission quotas and support services for university enrollment

Every year, 20 students with various disabilities are admitted to Universitas Brawijaya. The Centre for Disability Studies and Services provides these students with a number of services to support learning and inclusion, tests and exams are made accessible for a variety of disabilities and a reasonable accommodation is also offered.

The Centre for Disability Studies and Services (CDSS) at Universitas Brawijaya, based in Malang City, Indonesia, runs an affirmative admission programme for students with various disabilities, which includes an admissions quota complemented by student support services. The Centre also raises awareness about disabilities at the university and advocates inclusive higher education at the national level. As of 2019, there are 165 students with disabilities (70 per cent of whom are deaf or hearing impaired) enrolled at Universitas Brawijaya.

Problems Targeted

Only 0.9 per cent of the approximately 25 million people with disabilities in Indonesia access higher education due to poverty, scarcity of opportunity, lack of support services, and low levels of disability awareness.

Solution, Innovation and Impact

Through its affirmative admission programme, CDSS has established a quota for 20 students per year with various disabilities to be admitted to Universitas Brawijaya. CDSS also provides services to support learning and inclusion. There are sign language interpreters for deaf and hard of hearing students during lectures, and peer supporters to take notes or assist otherwise. Reasonable accommodation is also practiced, and tutorials support students in addition to regular lectures. Tests and exams are made accessible, taking into account a variety of disabilities such as hearing and sight impairment, mobility issues, cerebral palsy, and autism. To attract peer supporters, CDSS offers trainings four times a year, teaching sign language and other support skills. In addition, disability awareness training is given to all academics at the university. The practice started in 2012 by Slamet Thohari, a polio survivor and lecturer at the university. That year, the first 15 students with disabilities were enrolled; and as of 2019, 56 students have graduated.

Funding, Outlook and Transferability

The entire programme costs $2,500 per year, which is provided by Universitas Brawijaya. This covers the cost for peer support services, tutors, and accessibility measures. Indonesia’s Ministry of Higher Education incorporated CDSS’s affirmative admission practice as a model of Inclusive Education into a 2017 law on special education and services in higher education. All Indonesian universities are now thereby obliged to admit students with disabilities and to provide them with necessary assistance. As of 2019, two state universities have successfully adapted the model: the State University of Surabaya and Universitas Airlangga, also in Surabaya. CDSS plans to further optimize its disability support services by offering career assistance to graduates (through partnerships with employers), and to incorporate Inclusive Education practices in its university curriculum and teaching methods.

Pictures

Sign language interpreters and peer supporters at work in the classroom.

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THE STORY OF MUHAMMAD HASANUDDIN (22), BENEFICIARY OF CDSS SERVICES AT UNIVERSITAS BRAWIJAYA

“In every class, I was accompanied by one assistant who was able to translate the lecture into sign language.”

After a series of selection processes, I was accepted to the Faculty of Business Administration, Universitas Brawijaya. At first, studying in the university was quite challenging for me. In my first days, I tried to get along with my classmates by pretending that I was not deaf, because I was kind of ashamed of my true identity as a person with a hearing impairment. It took time for me to realize that I needed to use the services of the university’s Centre for Disability Studies and Services (CDSS). In every class, I was accompanied by one assistant who was able to translate the lectures into sign language, sometimes also taking notes. That changed my life. I had no more problems with my studies, and in fact I graduated with honours in August 2019. Besides my study life, I also joined many activities and organizations, all of which have been facilitated by CDSS or an independent organization, such as Akar Tuli (a deaf community in town), Deaf Story Telling Community, Organization for Students with Disability, and many more. I also became a professional sign language tutor for hearing people who are willing to learn sign language. Lastly, only a couple of months after I graduated I was accepted to work in the Regional Body for Planning and Development in Malang!