Factors associated with university inclusion of students with disabilities

Abstract

To determine the inclusion of students with disabilities and the factors associated with university inclusion in Panama, the statistics of the total enrolled in the universities studied in 2018 are compared with the total number of people with disabilities and able to study a university degree. A questionnaire was used to find out the perception of the respondents about the five factors that their university has aimed at the inclusion of these students, and thus generate indices for each factor. This was applied online to a sample of 188 people distributed among administrative staff, teachers, and students from five public and private universities in Panama. The survey consisted of 20 questions through an assessment according to the Likert scale. The inclusion variable was measured with information on the enrollment of students with disabilities from the last four previous years (2017-2020), which was then averaged. A multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the association between the independent variables (institutional policies, infrastructure, technology, curriculum, and training); and the inclusion represented by the enrollment of students with disabilities as a dependent variable. It is concluded that the effect of the factors associated with the inclusion in the university enrollment of students with disabilities in Panama so far is incipient and insufficient to be measured. However, given the existence of evidence in the literature of the significant effect of institutional policies to support students with disabilities on their retention and success.