Erasmus+ Sport Small Collaborative Partnerships Project titled “Socially Included”

We are looking for Universities and sport clubs to be our partners in this sports project application.

Ordu University School of Physical Education and Sport currently has a total of 551 students, of which only 195 are female and only one is an international student from Kazakhstan (a country with an economy in transition). The school also has only 4 students with disabilities (3 with visual impairment and 1 with hearing impairment). In all due respect, it can be argued that our school has weaknesses in attracting or maintaining the sustainability of women and international athletes and athletes with disabilities seeking a dual career in the field of sport; such as, teaching Physical Education at primary or secondary level or sport coaching. Due to our school’s imbalanced number of female students, compared to the number of male students, the very low number of students with disabilities (especially considering the mandatory %10 quota externally allocated by the national Turkish Higher Education Council and the fact that we have almost no international students, especially focusing on immigrant students or students from ethnic minority backgrounds, which are common in other HEIs in our region, the need for change and the issue of transition to a more socially inclusive school has arisen.

Considering the situation at Ordu University School of Physical Education and Sport, this project has been initiated with the purpose of sharing good practices and working together with our European project partners to discuss and develop new ideas and means of how sport schools in the area of higher education can promote and enhance gender equality, social inclusion of women athletes and athletes from under-represented or minority groups and equal opportunities. Lack of social inclusion of these athletes in our school has a negative effect on the local community, resulting in a lack of social interaction with such athletes. Social interaction is important for social integration, racial tolerance and non-discrimination.