Inverness College UHI signs Charter for Involvement
Inverness College UHI, as part of the University of the Highlands and Islands, has become the first in the university and college sector in Scotland to sign up to the Charter for Involvement – a commitment to listen to and respect the views of people with additional support needs.
The Charter has been written and developed by the National Involvement Network (NIN) and sets out how people want to be involved in the support they receive, the organisations that provide that support and the wider community.
The Charter contains 12 statements describing how people with additional support needs want to be involved from having a say on the people appointed to support them to decisions on how the service is run.
Since it was published in 2015 more than 60 organisations in Scotland have signed up to the Charter for Involvement and agreed to put its principles and statements into practice.
Professor Chris O’Neil, principal of Inverness College UHI, said: “We currently provide education to more than 200 students within supported programmes. We’re delighted to be the first of the university and college sector in Scotland to sign up to the Charter for Involvement, which will see us draw up an action plan on how we can improve involvement for these students. It is crucial that all our students feel listened to and respected and the principles of the Charter are ones we strive to deliver for all our students. We are fully committed to working with all our students to ensure they are at the heart of the plans we make.”
Lynnette Linton, NIN chairperson, said: “We are thrilled that Inverness College UHI is the first college and university in Scotland to sign up to the Charter and will work with students to improve involvement.”
Inverness College UHI is a college and a university, providing both further and higher education. It runs a range of courses for people with additional support needs including Community Link for people recovering from mental health difficulties, its Skillsbuilder courses for people with support needs and its Pathways to Study programmes for people who want to return to work or study. It also provides a range of wellbeing services to ensure the right practical, emotional and technological support is in place for all students including self-help tools, one-to-one support and short-term counselling.
The Charter for Involvement was funded by the Scottish Government. NIN is supported by the Association for Real Change in Scotland.