Stories of Inclusive Access to Higher Education: Part I of the HELN Access and Equity Web Event Series
The Higher Education Learning Network (HELN) invites you to learn from inspiring stories of successes in facilitating access to higher education for marginalized and underrepresented populations. Join us as we compare and contrast stories in different regions of the world. You will hear about common barriers and promising practices in facilitating access and equity.
Mary Chitsulo will tell us about the USAID Strengthening Higher Education Access in Malawi Activity (SHEAMA) implemented by Arizona State University, which supports higher education access for adolescent girls and young women, marginalized and vulnerable young men, and persons with disabilities. Sylvia Schmelkes will tell us about her work in developing intercultural universities to support rural-based indigenous students in Mexico. The presentations will be followed by a rich discussion we hope you engage in.
About the Series
This event is the first of three in the HELN Access and Equity Web Series. The second, Localizing Evidence in Women’s Access to Higher Education: A Knowledge Generation Event, will take place on March 7th and comprise regional discussion groups on women’s access to higher education. Participants will have the opportunity to share their own experiences to contribute content to a co-created, regionally-contextualized learning document connected to the USAID Expanding Women’s Access to Higher Education Primer. The final event on March 21st will be dedicated to networking.
Accessibility
This online event will be conducted over Zoom in English and Spanish with English, Spanish, and French interpretation. If you have any questions about the accessibility of this event or would like to request a reasonable accommodation, please contact Carla Verbridge by February 17, 2022.
Please note that by participating in this event, you consent to being recorded in the large group room. The video will be made available to the public after the event.
Resources
Speaker(s)
Mary Chitsulo, SHEAMA AoR
Mary Chitsulo is a Program Management Specialist for Higher Education in the Education Office for USAID/Malawi. She is the Agreement Officer’s Representative (AoR) for the Strengthening Higher Education Access in Malawi Activity (SHEAMA) aimed at increasing access to higher education for marginalized youth, particularly those with disabilities, from ultra-poor households and adolescent girls and young women. In her role, she leads the design and management of higher education activities. She coordinates her office’s engagement of higher education stakeholders, including the Ministry of Education’s Higher Education sub-sector, universities and the National Council for Higher Education to ensure programs respond to national policies, strategies and respond to the needs in the sector. Mary has taught in university in the past and has expertise in youth and community engagement, inclusive education, and curriculum design and delivery. She received her MSc in African Development Studies for University of Edinburgh in 2008 under a Commonwealth Scholarship, and her BA (Education) from Mzuzu University in 2005. Taking from her own example and experience, Mary believes in the power of education to transform people’s lives and mindset. She also believes in the ability of young people to create sustainable social change in their communities given the right resources, space, and inclusive policies.
Sylvia Schmelkes, Professor
Sylvia Schmelkes is a professor and researcher at the Research Institute for Educational Development in the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. She founded, and was General Coordinator for, Intercultural and Bilingual Education in the Education Ministry in Mexico. Sylvia chaired the governing board of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation of the OECD. She received the Joan Amos Comenius Medal from the Czech Republic and UNESCO for her contributions to education in 2008. Sylvia chaired the governing board of the now-extinct National Institute for the Evaluation of Education. She previously served as head of the Research Institute for the Development of Education and Academic Provost of the Universidad Iberoamericana. Sylvia has been an educational researcher since 1970, publishing over 150 articles, chapters, and books on the quality of education, adult education, values education, and intercultural education. She has an honorary PhD from the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California and an Honorary Doctor of Law from Concordia University in Canada.