Universal Design in Curriculum Development to Address Issues of Socio-Cultural Capital in Third-Level Education

Universal Design for Instruction (UDI) is primarily focused on ensuring that curricula are as accessible to students with a range of disabilities and difficulties. However, UDI can also be leveraged as a means of addressing issues of socio-cultural capital in third-level education. The assumption that all students belong to the dominant habitus can have a detrimental effect on those seen as being external to it. This paper examines the use of UDI as part of a wider approach to curriculum development as a means of addressing these issue. This is especially pertinent in light of the amalgamation of a number of technical Institutes (DIT, ITT, and ITB) as part of the development of a Technical University in Dublin (colloquially referred to as TU4Dublin), as the student population across these institutes encapsulates a wide-range of socio-cultural, and educational backgrounds.