SCALING UP FOR EQUITY: LESSONS FROM THE #IBELONG PROJECT TO IMPROVE DIVERSITY, BELONGING AND SUCCESS

Inclusiveness Meetup – #IBelong Multiplier Event   

 
 
The focus of the 3rd online Inclusiveness Meetup hosted by the University of Porto will be on the knowledge transference of #IBelong project results, its learning insights and toolkits. During the event, we will bring together various stakeholders from the higher education, and other fields, to discuss, reflect and share perspectives on the best approaches towards achieving equity in higher education. #IBelong team will share key takeaways from creating set of interventions aimed at promoting student’s sense of belonging in learning environments.  Additionally, by inviting guests from other institutions that piloted #IBelong interventions, we will demonstrate how lessons from #IBelong can be scaled-up to other contexts.
 
During the event, participants will be invited to choose between different workshops focused on proposals to develop a sense of belonging and community building.
 
This Inclusiveness Meetup is part of #IBelong Multiplier Events.
 
The project #IBelong – ‘Towards a sense of belonging in an inclusive learning environment’ aims at improving the experiences and outcomes of students from diverse backgrounds (including, but not limited to migrant students and first-generation entrants) through creating a more inclusive learning environment in higher education.
 
 
PROGRAMME
 
9.00-9.15 Setting the Scene for the Inclusiveness Meetup: 
                   Sofia Marques da Silva (CIIE-FPCEUP –  IBelong UPORTO team leader PT)
                   Marieke Meeuwisse (Associate Professor in Educational Sciences and #IBelong project leader, EUR, NL)
                   Amélia Lopes (Deputy Director of the Centre for Research and Intervention in Education, CIIE-FPCEUP, PT)
 
9.15-10.00 Challenges during the transitions into higher education: Upper secondary and university students share perspectives
                     Moderator: Sofia Marques da Silva
 
10.00-10.15  Coffee break
 
10.15-11.00  Exchanging knowledge: I Belong products and toolkits
                   This session is dedicated to a brief presentation of products and results of the #IBelong project followed by discussing knowledge transference inside and outside higher education institutions.
                   Moderator: Mary Tupan-Wenno
                   Liz Thomas (EHL, UK)
                   Marieke Meeuwisse (EUR, NL)
                   Miriam Lotze (UOS, DE)
                   Sofia Marques da Silva (CIIE-FPCEUP, PT)
                   Comments: Eliana Amaral (Med School and State Council on Education for Sao Paulo, University of Campinas, UNICAMP) and Fumane Portia Khanare (University of the Free State, South Africa)
 
11.00-12.00  Keynote by Isabel Menezes, Centre for Research and Intervention in Education, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences (CIIE-FPCEUP, PT)
                          Welcoming place, epistemic and relational diversity – Universities as pluriversities
                          “Even if there is strong discussion on the place (global? national?) of higher education in contemporary times, universities are emplaced in actual communities – spatial and geographic communities, disciplinary and academic communities, but also relational and affective communities”
                          Moderator: Pravini Baboeram (ECHO, NL)
 
12.00-13.00  Lunch Break
 
13.00-14.00. Scaling up mentoring: Examples from #IBelong partners
                          Four peer mentoring programmes at different developing stages will be debated and discussed, sharing ideas on how mentoring programmes may be transferred to other contexts inside and outside higher education.
                          Moderator: Liz Thomas 
 
14.00-14.45 Understanding Privilege and Systems of Power
                          Moderator: Pravini Baboeram, ECHO, Expertise Center for Diversity Policy, NL                         
                          Pravini Baboeram will drive a reflection about diversity and equity departing from higher education to other social contexts, using a powerful tool like «power walk» in which all participants may join.
 
14.45-15.00 Closing remarks
                          Marieke Meeuwisse (EUR, NL)
                          Sofia Marques da Silva (CIIE-FPCEUP, PT)
 
15.00-15.15 Virtual Port Wine celebration + music
 
 

KEYNOTE

11.00h GTM+1

"Welcoming place, epistemic and relational diversity: universities as pluriversities"

Even if there is strong discussion on the place (global? national?) of higher education in contemporary times, universities are emplaced in actual communities – spatial and geographic communities, disciplinary and academic communities, but also relational and affective communities. This means that universities are strongly grounded – and recognising your own place is a necessary first step for genuinely welcoming newcomers. But what does it mean for universities to be emplaced in democratic/plural communities?

More and more universities host diversity; students also come from different places regarding age, culture, social class, race, ethnicity, migration, disability. This results from an increased democratization of access to higher education: but hosting is not the same as welcoming, and access is not the same as progression or success. To really welcome the pluralism that comes from this diversity implies that universities are open to change and to be changed by embracing these different places and the epistemic and relational diversity that comes with them (Mbembe, 2016). A pluriversity is not only grounded in actual communities that are (fortunately!) diverse places but it is also committed to powering diversity and inclusion in those communities.

REGISTRATION
Registrations at https://ibelong.eu/news-events/porto-meetup-2021/
Link will be sent to registered participants ahead of the event. No registration fee.