Academic Support Services in the Learning Environment for Students with Hearing Impairment in Selected Public Universities-Kenya

Abstract

The struggle to integrate students with HI socially and academically is very challenging in the lecture halls where specialized academic support and access services are not commonly offered to students with HI in the universities. The purpose of this research study was to establish support services in the learning environment for students with hearing impairment. The research adopted a descriptive survey design whereby both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used. A pilot study was conducted to establish the validity and reliability of the research instruments. Data was then collected from lecturers, Dean of students’ affairs, chairpersons of Departments that offer university common units and students with hearing impairments. The universities were selected due to the fact that they admit students with Special Needs; hence, they have rich information on the theme of the study. Target population was composed of three Deans of Students’ Affairs, 15 chairpersons, 462 lecturers and 70 students with hearing impairments. On data analysis, the statistics were generated by means of statistical package of social sciences (SPSS) version 22.0, while qualitative data was analyzed through narrative analysis and thematic approach. The findings revealed that. selected public universities have inadequate resource materials for students with Hearing Impairments. Following these findings, the study recommended University Councils to avail bursaries for students with HI, and Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) to allocate more funds to students with hearing impairments pursuing higher education in public.

Keywords: University, Special needs, Hearing Impairment, Persons with Disabilities

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-29-08

Publication date:October 31^st 2021