A General Framework for Inclusive Lifelong Learning in Higher Education Institutions with Adaptive Web-Based Services that Support Standards - E-Infrastructures and Technologies for Lifelong Learning - page 33

personalized and inclusive way. In particular, the
approach relies on combining design and runtime
adaptations with a pervasive use of standards and
specifications. It follows, as stated above, the full
life cycle of service adaptation and is designed
to be applied at HE members into an intelligent
web-based environment that guarantees their sup-
port and extendibility making a pervasive use of
educational standards.
The fifth section addresses future trends for
the next generation of learning environments and
comments on the technological and management
problems that currently present significant barri-
ers at distance learning universities when trying
to meet individual learners' needs.
Finally, a concluding section discusses the
technical and even organizational open issues
related to the framework described in the chapter.

tion. Finally article 24 is addressed to education.
An “inclusive education system at all levels and
lifelong learning” (paragraph 1) are the explicit
aims of this article. In Europe, the Ministerial
Conference “ICT for an inclusive society” in Riga
resulted in a common Ministerial Declaration in
2006 (EU, 2006), where the prominent role of
Information and Communication Technologies
(ICT) in education is mentioned in the preamble
as well as the need for accessible services avail-
able to a range of devices. Many barriers to access
are mentioned together with service design and
personal capacity. The needs of older workers and
elderly people are addressed as well as the need
to enhance e-accessibility and usability.
However, there have always been time and
space barriers that made it difficult to physically
attend lectures in the classroom. Nowadays with
the application of ICT to the learning process time
and space barriers can be removed. In relation to
this, making public web sites accessible to all Euro-
pean citizens is an important goal of the European
i2010 strategy. According to recent studies still
“28% of European governmental web sites pres-
ent barriers which causes significant problems for
people with special needs” (Olsen, 2008), hinder-
ing access to web content and services for people
with disabilities. That affects more than 45 million
people in Europe - one in six - aged between 16
and 64, who have a long-standing health problem
or a disability, i.e., 16% of the overall EU working
age population (EU Disability Strategy, 2007).
Currently, e-Inclusion has become a widely used
term to refer to accessibility features provided by
ICT based products and services. These services
are to be used by people with disabilities as well
as older people with age-related changes in func-
tional capacities. It is crucial to ensure that ICT
products and services are not a further impediment
for access or usage by the disabled. The concept
of ALL (accessible lifelong learning) focuses on
access to education and Lifelong Learning (LLL),
which is both more and more mediated through
ICT. Further, e-Inclusion is one of the pillars of

BACKGROUND

Around 10 percent of the world's population, or
650 million people, live with functional diversity
issues, so called disabilities, in the world. They are
supposed to have the same rights and obligations as
any other member of the society, but unfortunately,
due to the lack of support to specific needs, they
usually face obstacles that prevent them for enjoy-
ing their rights. Access to education is one of the
activities where more work is needed to eliminate
discrimination at all levels of the educational sys-
tem. According to the 26 th article of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights “Everyone has the
right to education” (United Nation, 1948). More
recently, in December 2006 the “Convention on
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” was ap-
proved by the General Assembly of the United
Nations (United Nations, 2006). Article 4 includes
all major legal and political instruments for the
safeguarding of the rights of disabled people
including those relevant for their participation in
education. Article 9 is dedicated to accessibility,
while article 21 is devoted to access to informa-