Page 310 - RUICHSS 2023 Proceeding

University of Ruhuna ISSN: 2706-0063
Matara, Sri Lanka

Hartas, 2008; Lourens & Swartz, 2016; Márquez & Melero-Aguilar, 2022;

Moswela & Mukhopadhyay, 2011; Mullins & Preyde, 2013;). As one of the
responses to this situation, the University of Peradeniya gathered a team of

interested professionals and successfully applied for the Erasmus+ project

with the support of European partners. The project "The Developing
Inclusive Education for Students with Disabilities in Sri Lankan

Universities" (IncEdu") was approved in 2019 and supported by the EU
Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practises - Capacity

Building in the field of Higher Education. The project aims to develop a

support system to promote equal opportunities for students with disabilities
in Sri Lankan universities. Four universities from Sri Lanka (University of

Peradeniya, University of Ruhuna, Eastern University of Sri Lanka, Sri
Lanka Technological Campus) and four European universities (University

of Zagreb, Croatia; Masaryk University, Czech Republic; Transylvania
University of Brasov, Romania; Uppsala University, Sweden) are involved

in the project. The project is carried out in seven work packages: (WP1)

baseline study on needs assessment for students with disabilities in Sri
Lankan universities, (WP2) establishment of a model centre for SWDs in

Sri Lankan universities, (WP3) development of staff competencies, (WP4)

creation of community awareness, (WP5) quality assurance, (WP6)
dissemination and exploitation, and (WP7) management of the project.

With the aim of improving the competencies of teaching and non-teaching

staff in Sri Lankan universities, the educational programme "Inclusive

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