The three-year, European co-funded project “XENIA: Higher Education Inclusiveness Index  (XENIA)“, implemented from 15^th January 2020 to 14^th January 2023, received a remarkable evaluation score of 94/100 by the ERASMUS+ Managing Authority. 

XENIA was aiming at turning HEIs into inclusive places that promote social dialogue irrespective of gender and sexual orientation, and lowering (potentially eliminating) organisational and operational barriers for equal opportunities. The project was funded by the ERASMUS+ EU program and its consortium included seven (7) partners from five (5) EU member-states, namely Italy, Ireland, Slovenia, Spain and Greece, with the DAISSy Research Group of the Hellenic Open University (HOU) as the sole Greek partner.

The project’s main outcome has been the XENIA HEI Inclusiveness Index, a comprehensive tool designed to assess Universities’ inclusiveness in combating discrimination and exclusion based on gender and sexual orientation. 

The DAISSy Researh Group of HOU was actively involved in all seven (7) Work Packages (WPs) of the project as well as in all major intellectual products and deliverables, such as the development of the Inclusiveness Index for HEIs. Furthermore, DAISSy-HOU being the only Greek partner, was responsible for the implementation of all XENIA actions in Greece, such as, the literature review and desk research, the Index’s pilot implementation, and the dissemination and exploitation of all its results. Additionally, DAISSy-HOU had the responsibility of coordinating two core WPs, namely WP3 Test Deployment and Final Validated XENIA Inclusiveness Index and WP5 Evaluation. 

Specifically, DAISSy-HOU as the WP Leader, developed the following deliverables:

XENIA Validation Plan (D3.1), ΧΕΝΙΑ Validation Report (D3.2), Final XENIA Index (D3.3), Mainstreaming Guidelines & Operational Manual (D3.4), Policy recommendations (D3.5), Assessment Strategy (D5.1), Mid-term Assessment Report (D5.2.), and the Final Assessment Report (D5.3).

The DAISSy Researh Group of HOU’s XENIA team is more than proud since, the ERASMUS+ Managing Authority characterized the XENIA deliverables as of “high quality” and provided only positive feedback for the project.

For more information about the XENIA project and on other activities of DAISSy-HOU:

• Website: https://daissy.eu/
• Facebook: @DAISSyResearchGroup
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daissyresearchgroup/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/daissy_research
• Instagram: @daissy_researchgroup
• Email: info@daissy.eap.gr.