The Spanish Centre for Disability Documentation (CEDD) of the Royal Board of Disability has hosted the presentation of the fifth University and Disability Study, which addresses the current degree of inclusion of people with disabilities in the Spanish university system.

The goal of this report is to measure the degree of inclusion of people with disabilities in the Spanish university system relative to the 2019-2020 academic year and to show the evolution occurred during the last ten academic years since the start of the project in 2011.

The study had the participation of 1,860 university students with disabilities who are currently studying a university degree or who have finished one recently. On the other hand, the 61 universities (public and private) that have collaborated represent the 76% of the universities and encompass 87% of university students with disabilities of the Spanish university system.

The study has been carried out by Fundación Universia, which has the support of Banco Santander for the development of its activities, with the collaboration of Fundación ONCE, Crue Spanish Universities, CERMI (the Spanish Committee of Representatives of People with Disabilities) and the Royal Board on Disability.

The total number of students with some sort of disability who is studying in these 61 universities located in Spain is 19,910, which represents 1.5% of all university students enrolled in Spain during the 2019-2020 academic year.

Almost all of the universities (95.1%) that have participated in the 5th University and Disability Study have a service for students with disabilities.

Regarding the relationship between services and students with disabilities, 6 out of 10 of the students who participated in the survey have contacted the Service for People with Disabilities at their university on some occasion, mainly to request curricular adaptations, collect information about their rights and apply for scholarships or study aids.

More than half (59.7%) of the students with disabilities who have completed the survey had contacted the Attention Service for People with Disabilities of their university. The average assessment that the students give to this service has improved since the 5.9 points of 2015 to the 8 points of this year.