Able or disabled: why should neurodiverse students experience improved access to public universities? An exploratory study

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to answer the question: To what extent should neurodiverse students experience improved access to public universities in Egypt and why?

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic qualitative research method was used with data collected through semi-structured interviews with 44 educators in four universities in Egypt. A thematic approach was implemented to analyze the collected data.

Findings

The addressed educators believe that greater representation of neurodiverse students in their schools should be a priority for the following four reasons: first, neurodiverse students represent a promising new market segment schools could benefit from; second, recruiting more neurodiverse students represents a chance for schools and faculties to prove the social role they can undertake; third, schools can benefit from the unique skills many neurodiverse students have, particularly in mathematical and computational skills; and fourth, the greater the representation of neurodiverse students, the more research projects and funding opportunities educators can obtain.

Originality/value

This paper contributes by filling a gap in diversity management, higher education and human resources management in which empirical studies on the representation of neurodiverse individuals in public universities have been limited so far.

Citation

Mousa, M., Ayoubi, R. and Puhakka, V. (2024), "Able or disabled: why should neurodiverse students experience improved access to public universities? An exploratory study", Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-06-2023-0163