Peculiarities of Training Engineering Students with Disabilities

Abstract

In this day and age, there are increasing discussions and calls for shifting towards inclusive education. In view of this, the present study intended to identify the most severe challenges disabled engineering students face according to their own view and find possible ways to solve them. For this particular aim, a survey of 555 students from five universities of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan was performed. These were the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Northern Trans-Ural State Agricultural University, Sarsen Amanzholov East Kazakhstan State University, Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers, and South Ural State University. The survey was carried out in two stages. The first focused on identifying the main problems of disabled students (physical environment, staff skills and knowledge, theory-practice relationship, assessment peculiarities, and bias). The second intended to define the most critical of them (unadapted physical environment and reduced abilities to apply theoretical knowledge in practice). To resolve these issues, the authors propose the following recommendations to be adopted. These include adapted laboratories and equipment; programs that allow performing practical tasks; engineering tutors able to assist in performing practical tasks; an adapted assessment system with reference to health condition; psychological support to integrate disabled students into an inclusive team and eliminate prejudices. The obtained research findings can be used by other universities to promote a comprehensive integration of students with special needs into the educational process.