Development of Inclusive and Participatory Learning in Organisations through Multicultural Ambassadors – DIPLOMA

There are many vulnerable groups of young people across Europe. Reducing social inequities and social exclusion has been and remains one of the key objectives at the European level. The COVID-19 p...

The project developed evidence-informed approaches to training for student ambassadors that enable them to promote social inclusion and educational progression, as well as empower them to become active, engaged citizens in their local communities. The main objectives of the project were: (1) identifying inclusion strategies and promoting social inclusion in European HE for disadvantaged groups in relation to access, retention and success; (2) develop models of cross sector working with student ambassador/volunteers to reach increased numbers of disadvantaged/ marginalized young people, promoting social inclusion; (3) develop a package of training modules for student ambassadors/ volunteers and cross sector organisations working with them to be shared locally, regionally, nationally and transnationally; (4) engage, connect and empower young people by developing regional, national and trans-national Professional Learning Networks of student ambassadors.

To ensure appropriate project implementation and effective budget management, a set of documentation, templates, and tools were established at the outset of the project: 1) DIPLOMA Project Management and Implementation Plan describes the project's organizational structure and internal procedures. The document was created by UNIBUC. The document was made to: (a) provide guidance on the methods of project monitoring, (b) provide guidance on how to handle the financial side of projects so that financial statements can be easily drafted, (c) promote balanced relations between the partners involved by establishing a framework for the project's operations. 2) The Quality Management Plan drafted by the evaluation and quality responsible partner, UNIBUC, which has been developed with the project and includes detailed planning for the comprehensive monitoring, evaluation, and quality follow-up of the DIPLOMA activities and outcomes. 3) The Dissemination Plan drafted by the responsible partners for dissemination, ANOSR, demonstrates the strategies and activities to be organized and implemented to promote the project's objectives, outcomes, and results. 4) The Evaluation Plan drafted by UNIBUC. The main aims of the internal evaluation are to ensure the achievement of the project goals and the quality of the final results. 5) A Communication Plan that lists the project's stakeholders and what they need to know about the project's state. It also lists the things that need to be done to make sure that each stakeholder gets the "right information" at the "right time." During the project’s timeline: • 3 TPMs were set up in June 2022 (face-to-face), January 2023 (face-to-face), and June 2024 (face-to-face), with the aim of evaluating the project's general status, its results, and deliverables, as well as its management and financial reporting aspects. • 18 online meetings targeted to plan, discuss and organize the intellectual outputs (IOs) and tasks within the IOs. The project ran for a period of 30 months and covered 4 project results: R1. The research report delves into the most effective methods for fostering social inclusion in higher education institutions (HEI) by implementing strategies that aid in the access, retention, and success of diverse and disadvantaged students. R2. A curriculum for working with and training university students ambassadors/volunteers. R3. Handbook of Best Practice and Resources for Student Ambassador Training; R4. Policy recommendations for inclusion of disadvantaged groups through embedding student ambassador activity. The project multiplier events included an online international conference where research findings about current European university inclusion policies and practices, and models of effective inclusive student ambassador pedagogies and practice (R1) were shared. Using the training curricula initially developed (R2), the Learning and teaching activity – LTT - provided opportunities for student ambassadors and staff to co-create and develop locally relevant training curricula and activities to address the needs of specific groups (such as Roma or refugee and migrant students). A Handbook of best Practice and Resources for Student Ambassador Training was realized in close collaboration with the student ambassadors included in the project (the co-creation activity,R3). A report of policy recommendations (R4) provided guidance on approaches to developing integrated ambassador schemes that effectively promote inclusion. Four final local multiplier events provided opportunities to disseminate project findings (R1, R2, R3). Four final conferences were organized to promote the results of the project to as many stakeholders as possible (R1, R2, R3, R4). All project results can be accessed on DRIVE: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/1YJLni-bsjITJI-FNuq9iwxeghnaOYjKf