Page 37 - RUICHSS 2023 Proceeding

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

So, not only is unconditional equality of opportunity insufficient to achieve real

equality, and therefore equity, in higher education, but there is strong evidence that
it may hinder it (European Commission, European Education and Culture

Executive Agency, 2022).

According to Bush and Trani (2021), it is crucial to be flexible and actively
eliminate all forms of visible and invisible discriminatory practices that harm

various student groups, while occasionally allowing unequal treatment of unequal
groups of students if it helps to correct mistakes or injustices committed at earlier
levels of education.

We need to put inclusion at the heart of everything we do by embedding equality
and diversity in our organisational structures, policies, processes, and procedures,
and ensuring that we 'live' our values in practice. We then need to attract, retain,

develop, and support a truly diverse staff and student body, and ensure that we are
all aware of our personal responsibility to promote equality, diversity, and

inclusion (Bush & Trani, 2021).

Authors Janebova et al. (2021) consider that the first step towards inclusive higher
education is to ask honest, uncomfortable questions about why education in our

institutions is not inclusive. They point out that searching for answers might be
discomforting and will probably be dependent on national, cultural, and
institutional contexts. Asking such questions requires courage, honesty, and

empathy. The answers might reveal unspoken power structures or cultural biases
that we may not want to acknowledge. But only when these questions are asked

and answered, can we make our institutions more inclusive.

The social dimension should interconnect the principles of accessibility, equity,
diversity, and inclusion into all laws, policies, and practices (Ščukanec, 2020). It

is important to ensure a holistic approach to the social dimension, aiming to create
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