Inclusive education is a right enshrined in various international treaties and in our Constitution.
Higher education must be inclusive. It is defined as “education that implements measures for students with disabilities aimed at removing or reducing the physical, educational, cultural, social, and psychological barriers encountered when accessing education, during their studies as part of their learning activities, and during the associated assessments.” (decree of January 30, 2014, article 1, §3).
Inclusive legal framework
The 2006 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is the first international legal instrument specifically dedicated to the rights of persons with disabilities. Belgium has been required to comply with the Convention and to adapt its legislation since 2009 in accordance with its provisions. It should be noted that Article 2 of the UN Convention specifies that “discrimination on the basis of disability includes all forms of discrimination, including the denial of reasonable accommodation,” and Article 24 enshrines the right to inclusive education.
At the national level, the Belgian Constitution, the supreme legal norm, has since 2021 contained Article 22ter, paragraph 1, which establishes that “Every person with a disability has the right to full inclusion in society, including the right to reasonable accommodations.”
The Federal Anti-Discrimination Act of May 10, 2007 prohibits any direct or indirect discrimination based on criteria such as age, disability, health status, social origin, religious or political beliefs, among others. It provides for a reversal of the burden of proof in cases of suspected discrimination and offers remedies and sanctions to ensure effective protection against discrimination.
In the French Community, various decrees concern non-discrimination and inclusion:
- The decree on combating certain forms of discrimination of December 12, 2018.
- The decree on inclusive higher education for students with disabilities of January 30, 2014.
- The decree on inclusive adult education of June 30, 2016.
The CESI
The Commission de l'enseignement supérieur inclusif (CESI) is a commission hosted by ARES and created by the decree of January 30, 2014, on inclusive higher education for students with disabilities.
Joint degrees and inclusion
The legal framework governing inclusive higher education in the case of joint degrees was adapted by the passing of a decree in January 2025.
Higher education institutions involved in joint degrees are now legally required to respond to requests from students with disabilities, which requires them to exchange information.
In order to regulate these exchanges and establish more effective collaborations, CESI has produced a guide aimed at providing institutions with support and assistance in managing change.
Actions taken by CESI
Statistical data on inclusive higher education
Each year, statistics are compiled to provide an overview of inclusive higher education.
These data show that the number of requests from students with disabilities is increasing significantly each year: 7,991 requests in 2024-2025, representing a 23% increase in one year.
Among the entire higher education student population (excluding adult education), these applications are submitted by 3.59% of students.
The collection of existing data presents these detailed figures and their distribution according to various criteria (types of disabilities, age, gender, level of study, student mobility, etc.).
Audiovisual tools
The CESI has produced various audiovisual tools:
- Video clips as teaching aids;
- Success story video clips;
- “Teacher” capsules.
Advice sheets for students and institutions
For information purposes, two advice sheets concerning students with attention and executive function disorders or written language learning disorders have been drawn up by the CESI.
These sheets help improve the analysis of students' needs in order to facilitate the implementation of reasonable accommodations. These documents contain a series of non-exhaustive sections intended for specialists chosen by the student to assess their attention/executive function disorder or attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity (ADD/ADHD) on the one hand, and written language disorders on the other.
Advice sheets for students and institutions - beneficiary student status
The guide to building accessibility
In order to improve the accessibility of higher education buildings, a guide on building accessibility, accompanied by advice sheets and analysis grids by type of space and type of disability, was developed in 2021 by a firm specializing in accessibility, at the initiative of the CESI.
A call for Inclusion Projects has been organized annually by ARES since 2022 to make the buildings of interested higher education institutions accessible.
The ChESI
As provided for in the decree, in addition to the Commission de l'enseignement supérieur inclusif (CESI), Chambres d’Enseignement supérieur Inclusif (ChESI) are organized in each academic hub. The ChESI's mission is to coordinate inclusive higher education policy among the higher education institutions that are members of the Hub and to collaborate with the CESI:
ARES contact persons:
- Blandine Despret - blandine.despret@ares-ac.be
- Anne France Parent - anne-france.parent@ares-ac.be
- Claude Pecheux - claude.pecheux@ares-ac.be