Assessment of Universal Design Principles through Accessibility Audit for Higher Education Institutions in the context of Inclusive Education: A Case of Surat

Abstract: Everyone has the right for quality education and learning. The concept of Inclusive education refers to providing the same education for all types of students – regardless with human ability. This also leads to the idea of accessibility that utilize universal design for learning (UDL) principles and appropriate assistive technology, i.e., Barrier-Free Design, to provide learning opportunities to all types of users through architecture. A well-designed structure is a facility that understands, respects, and responds to its users and environments in addition to being a matter of preference or aesthetics. Unfortunately, in current situation, in India, there is a lack of awareness about Universal design and its implementation, integration into built environment, specifically looking towards the public buildings / places. The concern becomes more sensitive when it comes to the learning environment that should be accessible and usable for everyone. Successful inclusive education happens primarily through accepting, understanding, and attending to student differences and diversity, which can include physical, cognitive, academic, social, and emotional development. The aim of this research is to study, analyse and evaluate various accessibility aspects of HEIs in the context of inclusive education. The scope of the study is limited to the identified educational institutions in Surat. The methodology includes site visits, observations, physical documentation, analysis and issues identification. The study also presents policy as well as design level recommendations / interventions to enhance and improve the experiential quality adhering to the idea of inclusive and equitable education. Keywords: Inclusive education, Accessibility, Universal Design for learning, Barrier-Free Design, Equitable Education, Audit