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3INs: Inclusion Requires Action

Old lady and kid with their foreheads face to face
3IN Alliance promotes #inclusion #integration and #involvement, but what does this actually mean? We asked the 3IN staff members how these values show in the alliance. 

Inclusion is one of the core values of the 3IN Alliance. Maria Tendenes and Bjørn Hallstein Holte from VID both see it as one of the most important values. 

– I would say the INs I identify with the most are the concepts of inclusion and integration, which I also used in my doctoral thesis. I work at VID because I am concerned about inclusion, integration and involvement, says Holte. 

 

3IN Alliance works to build cooperation that includes all types of students. 

– I believe inclusion is one of the INs that is the most important for VID, as we work on including all in present-day society. We also just received funding for a national project. In the project, we will develop a study program for students with intellectual disabilities. This clearly shows that we are working on also including the groups that previously were not offered anything within the field of higher education, explains Tendenes. 

  

– The 3IN Alliance has the potential to help us give more students international exposure – which is inclusive – by integrating programmes and teaching activities across the partner institutions, says Bjørn Hallstein Holte. 

Young people need to feel included, integrated and involved. This is important if we want to meet the challenges of radicalization and the increasing degree of loneliness and mental illness

Maria Tendenes thinks that inclusion, integration and involvement are all essential in today’s Europe.  

– Young people need to feel included, integrated and involved. This is important if we want to meet the challenges of radicalization and the increasing degree of loneliness and mental illness during the pandemic, says Tendenes. 

  

Holte agrees with Tendenes.  

– To me, these are complex issues that require structured thought and serious research, but not just that: they also require action. At VID and in the 3IN Alliance, I have found friends who share my concerns, and we teach students who will go out and do things in various roles. We need all of them: the frontline workers, administrators and leaders in the welfare state, in civil society, in academia and other places, says Holte.

Maria Tendenes is an advisor for internationalization. Bjørn Hallstein Holte is an associate professor. They both work at VID Specialized University in Norway.

What do the 3INs mean?

The 3IN Alliance’s core values are Inclusion, Integration and Involvement. Read about the ideas behind them from the 3IN website.