• Welcome
• News and events
• Disability
• • Information for disabled students
  • Information for disabled staff
  • Disability procedures and guidelines
  • Teaching, Learning and Assessment
  • Checklists and Guidance from the National Disability Team
  • University of Sussex Disability Policy
  • DEIP Disability Research Project
• Documents and policies
• Resources
• People
• Frequently asked questions

DEIP Disability Research Project

The Disability and Effective Inclusion Policies (DEIP) Project - Overview

Introduction

The DEIP Project aims to explore ways in which the Higher Education sector can support equality of opportunity in education and employment for people who are disadvantaged through a range of disabilities, and who may also be disadvantaged because of their race, gender or age. Higher Education has long been recognised as a mechanism by which people develop intellectually, learn skills for work and achieve personal success. Many disabled people have low levels of qualifications due to lack of opportunity and support during their statutory schooling. Inclusive Higher Education provision, in which the restrictions placed on disabled people through social and physical barriers are removed or reduced, can play an important role in empowering disabled people.

Research Questions

The DEIP Project will explore four main research questions:

• To what extent have social and medical models of disability shaped UK policy around disability and how do these policies get interpreted, applied and developed within individual Higher Education institutions?
• What are the experiences of disabled students currently studying at Higher Education as they move through the student life cycle and what are their aspirations for when they leave university?
• What are the experiences of disabled graduates as they make a transition to work and how are their Higher Education experiences relevant to this?
• What are the experiences of different employers working with disabled graduates?

Data Collection

The DEIP project is a collaborative enterprise involving researchers from Sussex, Bristol and Lancaster Universities. So that we can explore how different disabilities/impairments affect student experiences of Higher Education, each partner institution will focus on a particular group of disabled students. Sussex University will focus on students with mental health issues, Bristol on D/deaf students and some visually impaired students and Lancaster on students with Specific Learning Disabilities.

We will also conduct interviews with key informants such as student support staff, equality and diversity officers, careers centre staff and relevant people in staff development in each institution. The experiences of disabled graduates will be collected through a national survey available on line. Policies from individual institutions will be evaluated to identify good practice that is relevant for all students with a disability. Each partner institution will also explore issues around employing disabled graduates with three different types of employers in their region. The project design includes feeding back interim research findings to stakeholders.

Research Outcomes

Our aim is to identify a range of institutional practices and policies which facilitate the inclusion of disabled students in Higher Education, and in their transition to and retention in employment. Through disseminating our findings in academic and non academic settings such as government and non government organisations, we hope to influence policy provision at national and local levels.