Collaborative public engagement events in Indonesia: Inclusive policies and practices for greater accessibility in HE project

Author Lynn Goh | Posted on

As part of the Developing inclusive policies and practices for greater accessibility in higher education project, Dr Tariq Umar, Senior Lecturer at the School of Architecture and Environment (UWE Bristol), visited universities in Indonesia to participate in public engagement events. Dr Umar, in collaboration with Universitas Nahdlatul Ulama (UNU) Yogyakarta, Indonesia, had received funding for this project from the British Council, Indonesia.

The public engagement events were held in the Indonesian cities of Surabaya and Makassar during 16 to 20 June 2025 in collaboration with the Universitas Nahdlatul Ulama (UNU) Sidoarjo and University Islam Makassar. The purpose of these events was to engage with university leadership, government organisations, civil societies, non-government organisations, students, faculty members and staff to disseminate and get feedback from the stakeholders on a road map which aims to reduce access gap and to mainstream inclusive education practice in Indonesia higher education. This road map was developed as part of this project.

Dr Tariq Umar with speakers and experts at Universitas Nahdlatul Ulama (UNU) Sidoarjo

The events also explored the challenges and opportunities in implementing this proposed road map in the higher education institutions. Special arrangements were made for the accessibility that include but not limited to inclusive venues for the events and sign language interpretation to ensure wider participation including accessibility for disabled participants. The events were run in hybrid format allowing participation in-person and online through Zoom. The events were also broadcast using the partner institutions’ official YouTube channels.

In his initial introduction, Dr Umar highlighted that, in Indonesia, more than 10 million disabled people entering the workforce, however, only 7% (less than 1 million) have a college or university qualification. While the number of workers with disabilities is increasing, universities in Indonesia seldom accept students with disabilities with a simple reason that they do not have infrastructures, polies and procedures to support such students. He also explained the research approach which used to develop the road map. The approach adopted consisted of:

  1. a thorough review of policies, practices, and relevant regulations in the context of higher education for disabled people in Indonesia
  2. 30 interviews with disabled students, higher education experts, policy makers and government officials
  3. the benchmarking of policies, practices, and relevant regulations.

He emphasised infrastructure accessibility as the main challenge in Indonesia’s higher education sector and explained how this could be mitigated through:

  1. legal and regulatory frameworks
  2. institutional practices and support services
  3. physical accessibility and infrastructure
  4. awareness and inclusivity culture
  5. funding and resources
  6. student involvement and advocacy.

Dr Umar also outlined the UWE Bristol disability support services highlighting their key initiative in supporting disability students and staff including personalised support plans, assistive technology and equipment, mental health and wellbeing support, inclusive campus design, and dedicated disability advice team.

Two separate disability commissioners in Indonesia also attended our events in both cities. They stated that it is of the outmost importance to implement this road map now in all the universities in Indonesia. They stated that they will take this with government developing a strategy in phase implementation.

Dr Tariq Umar with event participants in University Islam Makassar

In Sidoarjo, the total number of participants both on-site and online were 324 from a total of 28 different organisations, while in Makassar, the total number of participants stand at 210 from 22 different organisations.

In the two focus groups, the feedback from different participants were recorded, arriving on strategies and recommendations both for the government and universities on how to implement the proposed road map.

The project team will be working and supporting relevant stakeholders in the implementation of the road map.

The events in both cities attracted great attention of local media. The following are some of the web links which show the coverage of our events in Indonesia, including links to the videos on YouTube:

Sidoarjo: Universitas Nahdlatul Ulama (UNU) Sidoarjo

Makassar: University Islam Makassar

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