Prof. Dervilla Donnelly chaired the morning session and began with an appeal to delegates to turn off their mobile phones. She then commented on the importance of progressing the equality agenda in higher education and referred to the long number of years that she and her colleagues have spent in the work of reaching out to groups that have been excluded from participating in education.
She brought delegatesÕ attention to the role that higher education has had in the economic growth of Ireland in recent years and also to its central role in leading the way towards a more inclusive society. She stated that Ôaccess to education is goldÕ and reminded everyone present of the danger of overlooking the obstacles faced by those who are not part of the traditional student cohort. She expressed delight that government and higher education institutes are now conscious of the importance of access to higher education for everyone and looked forward to hearing from speakers and delegates on their experiences regarding the tackling of access to higher education, during the course of the day.
She commended the IT sector for its role in reaching out to individuals, communities and workplaces and thought that much could be learned from the diverse developments regarding access which had taken place in this sector.