Guías para la tolerancia y aceptación de la diversidad en la educación superior

Abstract

These Guidelines for tolerance and acceptance of diversity in higher education constitute a valuable tool for the educational community in order to achieve a space for inclusive and enriching coexistence and growth. The work is composed of 10 guidelines on ten topics of importance for university communities in Latin America. The topics were chosen by the team of work package 5, called Apoyo, of the research project co-financed by the Erasmus+ program of the European Union, ACACIA (561754-EPP-1-2015-1-CO-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP). Each guide presents the problem it deals with, including a glossary, characterization of the actors, guidelines for detection and treatment, that is, guidelines for recognizing when a person, student, teacher or administrative and technical staff of the University is going through such a situation and how to deal with it, as well as what to do once the case has been detected; curricular guidelines or how to deal with the subject when teaching a subject of any kind, how to include it even in subjects that may seem very disconnected, such as technical subjects. They also include, in most cases, a questionnaire to assess the attitude towards the issue being dealt with. The main objective of each and every one of the guides collected here is, as its title indicates, to improve the degree of tolerance and acceptance of diversity in the university community. Tolerance, understood as respect, acceptance and appreciation of the rich diversity of the cultures of our world, of our forms of expression and ways of being human, but never as a concession, condescension or indulgence; much less as an invitation to renounce one's own beliefs or convictions. The topics discussed here are as varied as religious intolerance, which increasingly affects countries as migration increases; intolerance towards sexual diversity and towards ethnic and cultural diversity; disability, to facilitate understanding and therefore the inclusion of people, even those with psychosocial problems, by eliminating physical, communicational and mental barriers; sexual harassment, gender violence and domestic violence; as well as the armed conflict that has marked the social situation of many of our countries in Latin America. Each document, each guide, constitutes a chapter of this book and was prepared based on the work of one or more members of the Apoyo package acting as author leaders, to then be reviewed by the entire team and, therefore, we count all its members as contributing authors of each of the guides. Therefore, it is a collaborative work that takes into account the perspective of the eleven countries participating in the project, but especially the circumstances and needs of those in which CADEP Acacia have been created in Hispanic America. This is, therefore, a work with a transformative purpose. The Guidelines for tolerance and acceptance of diversity in higher education are an essential resource for the university community to be more inclusive and less segregating, thus facilitating improved academic levels and reducing university dropout rates, since emotional aspects are determining factors in ensuring the completion of studies and the development of a successful career, not to mention that tolerance and acceptance of diversity by the university community is a guarantee of general improvement in our society.