The Consortium

ITALY

Universita' degli Studi di Milano, Biblioteca di Informatica

Universita' degli Studi di Milano is the project co-ordinator.
The library of computer science is the structure which will work in particular to the project activities.
This university library has worked in the past jointly with the support service for students with disability and blind students in scientific courses to collect and adapt scientific resources (i.e. textbooks, papers, software tools, educational resources written by university professors etc.).
The library has been working for long together with the departments of Computer Science, and Informatics and Communication in order to support didactics and research. In particular, Universita' degli Studi di Milano collaborated to the European LAMBDA (Linear Access to Mathematics for Braille Device and Audio-synthesis) project.

Website:  www.unimi.it

SLOVAKIA

Comenius University, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics

Comenius University in Bratislava is a public higher educational institution (HEI).
It is the oldest and the largest university in the Slovak Republic. It was founded in 1919 and follows the university tradition of the Academia Istropolitana which was established in Bratislava by Matthias Corvinus, the Hungarian King, in 1465.
The Comenius University was the first one in the Slovak Republic to create a specialized supporting system for students with visual impairment. Support Centre for Visually Impaired Students (http://cezap-www.fmph.uniba.sk), that is located in Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics (http://www.fmph.uniba.sk/), offers its services for students with disabilities since 1993.
It will bring to the project its own experience in:

• educational and training activities in the computer room
• transforming study texts into an suitable form (Braille, electronic- and/or audio-form, copying into large print)
• offering information and advice for applicants, students, teachers, parents, academic staff (learning support strategies information on specific conditions of the study in an integrated university environment, information on prerequisites and necessary skills and equipment to succeed in task fulfilling, etc.)

Its role in the project will focus on support service networking and the
preparation of educational material (lessons and exercises).

BELGIUM

Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven

Due to the combined effort and the extensive background knowledge of both K.U.Leuven groups, the "Research group on Document Architectures" and the "Working Group for Students with an Impairment", its contribution can consist of:

• state-of-the-art description of disabled student support services at universities and high schools, as seen on a European scale;
• thorough knowledge on electronic support library set-up for visually impaired students, especially taking into account the handling of copyright protected documents; standardisation of this type of documents;
• technology watch on XML and Daisy related technologies;
• WAI (Web Access Initiative) guidelines for accessible webpages;
• standardisation of new Design for All technologies;
• creation of knowledge bases on the availability of text books and research instruments;
• contribution to a knowledge base on past personal solutions and experiences in the field of guidance of visually impaired students.

Furthermore the group has a large experience in European project work and management (since 1991).
Websites: 
http://canada.esat.kuleuven.be/docarchwebsite/
http://www.docarch.be

AUSTRIA

Linz University, Institute Integriert Studieren

In Austria, one of the most important offers of assistance to disabled students is the support at institute level. This particular kind of support is offered by the Institute integriert studieren at Linz University in cooperation with the universities of Vienna, Graz, Innsbruck and the Vienna University of Technology.
Institute integriert studieren at Linz University will bring to @Science network its wide experience in supporting disabled students in all phases of their participation to academic studies ranging from preparing services before and at the beginning of studies to study counselling independent from field and place of study; from information events to organization of International Computer Camps (ICC) for young blind and partially sighted students to train in handling the PC, to prepare them for university and to empower international and intercultural exchange; from support during the phase of entering university (e.g. support of enrolment) to computer equipment provision. Because of these specific experience it will be mainly involved in visually impaired students' support, investigation on existing personal tools, and accessibility of educational material and text books.
Website: 
http://www.integriert-studieren.jku.at/

ITALY

Unione Italiana Ciechi (Verona)

Unione Italiana Ciechi (Verona division) has carried on several activities to support blind students for many years:

1. specific education for teachers to support blind students in primary, secondary schools and at university;
2. courses for young blind to learn assistive technologies and basic software packages;
3. research activities as for assistive tools for blind and sight impaired. In particular it was partner in many European project such as PLAY2 project, TeDUB project, Visual Project and LAMBDA project;
4. activities in transcription of textbooks and educational resources for the students in the school;
5. participation in social activities concerning disability.

The participation to this project is one step forward to contribute in giving the blind students more opportunities in education and job careers. Moreover it can guarantee the dissemination of shared experiences all over Italy.
Website: 
http://www.uniciechiverona.com

FRANCE

UPMC – Université Pierre et Marie Curie (University Pierre et Marie Curie)

Heiress to the Faculty of Sciences in the Sorbonne, the first scientific and medical University of France is situated in the heart of Paris, cultural and intellectual capital. Near to the historical site of the Île Saint Louis, to the Notre Dame Cathedral and to the prestigious French National Library, the Jussieu campus enjoys a privileged geographical situation in the middle of the Latin Quarter, close by the Amphitheatre of Lutetia. The Pierre and Marie Curie University disposes of a remarkable potential for scientific training.
With 34 000 students (11 000 medical students and 23 000 scientific students), the Pierre and Marie Curie University has an exceptional proportion of post-graduate students (10 000).
The Pierre and Marie Curie Paris 6 University holds a very important place in the French scientific and medical research and this is obvious when looking at its number of staff: 3000 engineers, management staff, technicians; 2600 teachers cum researchers and 1300 researchers work in 260 research laboratories associated with the great Research organisations (CNRS: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, INSERM: Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale).
The Team Inova (Interfaces NOn Visuelles et Accessibilité - Non Visual Interfaces and Accessibility) has a large experience in development of non visual interfaces and educational tools: Inova has worked on several projects dealing with Web Accessibility (WAI-DE – TIDE TELEMATICS DE4015, WAI-DA – IST 13470, WAI-TIES – IST-2001-38471), educational tools for blind and visually impaired pupils (TACTISON, VICKIE – IST-2001-32678), Computer Games for visually impaired children (TIM – IST-2000-25298), maths for the Blind (within MICOLE – IST-2003-511592 STP – and UMCL – Universal Maths Conversion Library).

Website: 
http://inova.snv.jussieu.fr/maths/