Building a more inclusive Europe

Providing higher education institutions with the tools to deal with diversity and social inclusion.

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About Smile

SMILE aims to promote inclusive learning by developing, testing and implementing innovative tools that improve the way higher education institutions deal with diversity and social inclusion. The project intends to harvest the expertise of civil society organisations and individuals and include their experiences in the SMILE tools.

role model illustration

The 3 pillars

Our work will focus on 3 main areas of inequality and disadvantage in higher education:

SMILE will develop:

Diversity Audit Tool

to support universities self-reflecting and assessing their commitment to diversity and social inclusion

Policy operational action plan

with recommendations, to guide and support universities and stakeholders fulfilling and realising their commitment to diversity and social inclusion

CPD courses

addressed to university staff, developed and tested via a bottom up approach

Research space

to find resources and examples on the three pillars and to learn from others

Where do we come from?

One project, two sectors, eight countries

SMILE has two main types of partners: NGOs and HEIs. Together, in teams of three, each group formed by partners from different countries will focus on one of the SMILE pillars. The different sectors and different nationalities will bring different perspectives to each topic.

Smile countries

Highlights

Interviews

First approach to the community and civil society groups to review the local situation of each pillar

Focus discussion groups

Pinpointed individuals and organisations will review and comment the project outputs

Role models

To understand the challenges and needs, to inspire and learn from, role models will be included in all activities

Peer Learning

Learning from each other is key to SMILE - the peer learning will be a basic tool throughout the project

Civil society

An essential part of SMILE

How can we know what minorities need if we do not talk to them? SMILE will gather the perspective of civil society and identify individuals who are role models in one of the 3 pillars of SMILE.

Role models show passion and are a source of inspiration – they often overcome obstacles and are committed to help their own communities. We want to learn from you!

Women leadership

Tools & Resources

Resources
Resources

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Audit tool
Audit tool

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CPD courses
CPD courses

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Policy
Policy

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The SMILE consortium