​​ CoHE Awards Flags and Decorations to Barrier-Free Universities

Selçuk University ranked first, Aksaray University ranked second and Dokuz Eylül and Mersin Universities ranked third in the ranking of universities with the most flags.

Dokuz Eylül University ranked first, Ege University ranked second, Izmir Democracy University and Izmir Bakırçay University ranked third in the Barrier-Free Program Decoration Awards.

CoHE President Özvar said: "We are making a great effort to provide a barrier-free environment and to enable individuals with disabilities to participate more in social and cultural activities."

June 5, 2023 / Ankara

Erol Özvar, President of the Council of Higher Education, announced the universities that were deemed worthy of the Barrier-Free University Awards this year, which have been awarded since 2018.

CoHE President Erol Özvar presented the awards to the universities at the 2023 Barrier-Free Universities Award Ceremony held at the Council of Higher Education.

In his speech at the ceremony, Özvar said that they had been carrying out projects under the titles of "barrier-free access" and "barrier-free education" to eliminate the obstacles experienced in the entrance to higher education and in the education process so that equality of opportunity could be provided in education at all levels.

He stated that the number of students in higher education is approaching 7 million and that the number of students with different levels of disabilities is around 56 thousand. He noted that according to the data, approximately one third of disabled students are women and added, "Female disabled students face more disadvantages compared to male students and experience problems in accessing universities." He said that about 90 percent of students with disabilities prefer universities with open education programs.

"The main reason for this choice is that they cannot meet their basic needs such as transportation and accommodation in face-to-face programs. Especially women with disabilities face these problems more frequently and are in a more disadvantaged position in terms of access to universities. These data clearly show that the access of disabled individuals, who already have difficulties in participating in the society, to universities cannot be realized at the desired level due to the limited opportunities.

Disabled students should be provided with more support and opportunities, and a barrier-free environment to access to universities and to ensure the progress and development of our society. In addition to campuses that comply with accessibility standards, academic support and resources should also be provided to address the specific needs of students with disabilities. For this reason, I would like to emphasize once again the importance of your works as these works will help individuals with disabilities to fully benefit from educational opportunities and support their participation in education."

"Our universities work with great devotion"

Özvar emphasized that it is one of the most important duties of universities to be aware of the number of disabled students in the higher education system and their disabilities, to take measures accordingly and to reach out to these students in order to remove the barriers at universities.

Özvar said that universities continued to work on accessibility with the coordination offices and various units they established at their universities and added that many universities had made significant progress in terms of space accessibility.

He stated that a greater effort should be made to make education and program content accessible for students from different disability groups.

"These efforts will make a great contribution to the creation of a fairer and more supportive environment in higher education on the basis of equality and inclusion. As the Council of Higher Education, we care about the access of all our students to higher education, and we make great efforts to develop incentive projects to provide a barrier-free environment to students with disabilities and to ensure their greater participation in social and cultural activities. We recognize and greatly appreciate your efforts to make our campuses, classrooms and other facilities fully accessible. An environment equipped with ramps, elevators and other appropriate equipment will enable students with disabilities to fully exercise their right to education," he said.

Özvar stated it was important to use inclusive learning and alternative assessment methods to encourage the participation of students with disabilities and added, "For the social integration of students with disabilities, our universities should encourage collaboration, communication and solidarity among students. Necessary legal arrangements should be made and awareness-raising activities should be planned to facilitate the participation of students with disabilities in social activities and clubs. That is when these students will feel accepted and supported as a part of society."

"We are ready to lend our support"

He stated that they had higher expectations from universities as the science-producing institutions of the country in terms of accessibility, as in other issues, and addressed the rectors.

"Each student who steps into a university by overcoming obstacles increases the diversity and richness of our society. Therefore, this effort should not be limited to our campuses. We expect you to make contributions to facilitate the participation of all our disabled citizens, especially our disabled students, in social life with the projects you will develop in all fields, from sociology to architecture and from urban and regional planning to software engineering.

As the Council of Higher Education, we are ready to support you in this regard with all the institutions of our State. Within the framework of university-industry cooperation, we hope that you will prioritize the needs of our disabled citizens in your R&D and P&D activities by taking advantage of all the opportunities of the latest technology within the framework of university-industry cooperation and achieve more concrete, solution-oriented and national-level achievements. In particular, the participation of the disabled students and researchers in these studies is of great importance. I would like you to know that we will provide more support to universities that will raise awareness on this issue."

Erol Özvar noted that in order to encourage the creation of a barrier-free ecosystem at universities, Barrier-Free University Awards have been given in two different fields, namely "Barrier-Free University Flags" and "Barrier-Free Program Decorations" since 2018.

He said that Barrier-Free University Flags are awarded in three categories, namely "Spatial Accessibility" represented by the orange flag, "Accessibility in Education" represented by the green flag and "Accessibility in Socio-Cultural Activities" represented by the blue flag, and that Barrier-Free Program Decorations are awarded to the relevant programs of universities that provide accessibility to different disability groups.

-295 flags given to 56 universities-

Erol Özvar announced the names of the universities that received awards according to this year's evaluation results.

He noted that 1,091 applications were made from 97 universities this year, and that 56 universities were awarded 295 flags. He said that 152 of these flags were the orange flags for spatial accessibility, 92 were the green flags for accessibility in education and 51 were the blue flags for accessibility in sociocultural activities, and listed the names of the universities that received the most flags.

- Selçuk University won the most flags

Accordingly, Selçuk University ranked first with 37 flags, Aksaray University ranked second with 23 flags. Mersin University and Dokuz Eylül University shared the third place with 20 flags each. Bartın University ranked fourth with 16 flags, Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University ranked fifth with 11 flags and Anadolu University ranked sixth with ten flags. Ege University and Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University ranked seventh with nine flags each.

Yozgat Bozok University and TED University shared the eighth place with eight flags each. Marmara University and Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University ranked ninth with seven flags each. Kastamonu University, Uşak University and Istanbul University ranked tenth with six flags each, while Sakarya University, Necmettin Erbakan University and Hacettepe University ranked eleventh with five flags each.

- Dokuz Eylül University ranks first in Barrier-Free Program Decoration Awards-

Four universities received the Barrier-Free Program Decorations for 14 programs. In this category, Dokuz Eylül University ranked first with nine awards, Ege University ranked second with three awards, and Izmir Democracy University and Izmir Bakırçay University ranked third with one award each.

CoHE President congratulated all universities and their staff members who were awarded the flags for their efforts and hard work.

After his speech, Özvar presented the awards to the rectors of the award-winning universities. He also chatted with disabled students from universities and took photos with them.

Click here for the list of the award-winning universities.

Click here for the list of the nominee universities for the 2022 Barrier-Free University Awards.

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