Global Challenges to Inclusive Education in Higher Education: Barriers and Institutional Responses: A Narrow Literature Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62843/jssr.v5i3.595Keywords:
Global Challenges, Inclusive Education, Higher Education, Barriers, Institutional Responses, Literature ReviewAbstract
The present study focuses on the challenges of inclusive education across the globe which are confronting with higher education (HE), especially in developing countries. To highlight the key pertinent issues, published articles were scrutinized from Google Scholar between 2019 and 2024. The review shows gender disparity, low socio-economic status of the students, no internet facility for online or e-learning, financial constraints, dissimilarity in curriculum and contents, settlement for refugees, and immigrant students in developed countries. This study offers suggestions to policy makers, curriculum developers, and stakeholders to align their practices and policies with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Moreover, findings indicate that digital soft skills courses for students are mandatory for the global employability. More future studies are needed to find innovative solutions for these challenges.
References
Abamosa, J. Y., Hilt, L. T., & Westrheim, K. (2019). Social inclusion of refugees into higher education in Norway: A critical analysis of Norwegian higher education and integration policies. Policy Futures in Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/1478210319878327
Abo-Khalil, A. G. (2024). Integrating sustainability into higher education: Challenges and opportunities for universities worldwide. Heliyon, 10(9), e29946. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e29946
Al-Balas, M., Al-Balas, H. I., Jaber, H. M., Obeidat, K., Al-Balas, H., Aborajooh, E. A., Al-Taher, R., & Al-Balas, B. (2020). Correction to: Distance learning in clinical medical education amid COVID-19 pandemic in Jordan: Current situation, challenges, and perspectives. BMC Medical Education, 20(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-020-02428-3
Alhazmi, A. K., Zain, A., Alsakkaf, N., & Othman, Y. (2023). Identification of sustainability barriers in higher education institutions (HEIs) and the role of technology in improving sustainability in HEIs. Journal of Science and Technology, 28(1), 30–37. https://doi.org/10.20428/jst.v28i1.2126
Almaiah, M. A., Al-Khasawneh, A., & Althunibat, A. (2020). Exploring the critical challenges and factors influencing the e-learning system usage during COVID-19 pandemic. Education and Information Technologies, 25(6), 5261–5280. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-020-10219-y
Alqahtani, A. Y., & Rajkhan, A. A. (2020). E-learning critical success factors during the COVID-19 pandemic: A comprehensive analysis of e-learning managerial perspectives. Education Sciences, 10(9), 198. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10090198
Andrews, M., & Hu, X. (2021). A descriptive profile of online faculty training practices in the Illinois community college system. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 45(8), 1–14. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1320541
Atherton, G., Dumangane, C., & Whitty, G. (2016). Charting equity in higher education: Drawing the global access map. Pearson.
Atiaja, L., & Guerrero-Proenza, R. (2016). MOOCs: Problems and challenges in higher education. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 13(27). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-016-0022-2
Bagaria, O., & Kumar, A. (2014). Strategies for responding to challenges of higher education in India. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268813383
Blanco-Portela, N., R-Pertierra, L., Benayas, J., & Lozano, R. (2018). Sustainability leaders’ perceptions on the drivers for and the barriers to the integration of sustainability in Latin American higher education institutions. Sustainability, 10(8), 2954. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10082954
Bothwell, E., Chinchilla, J. F. R., Deraze, E., Ellis, R., Galán-Muros, V., Gallegos, G., & Mutize, T. (2022). Gender equality: How global universities are performing (Part 1). Times Higher Education and UNESCO IESALC.
Crea, T. M. (2016). Refugee higher education: Contextual challenges and implications for program design, delivery, and accompaniment. International Journal of Educational Development, 46, 12–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2015.11.005
Erdoğan, A., & Erdoğan, M. M. (2018). Access, qualifications and social dimension of Syrian refugee students in Turkish higher education. In A. Curaj, L. Deca, & R. Pricopie (Eds.), European higher education area: The impact of past and future policies (pp. 259–276). Springer.
Francl, T. (2014). Is flipped learning appropriate? Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching, 7, 128–136.
Jack, O., Chase, E., & Warwick, I. (2019). Higher education as a space for promoting the psychosocial wellbeing of refugee students. Health Education Journal, 78(1), 51–66. https://doi.org/10.1177/0017896918792588
Jolley, M., Cross, E., & Bryant, M. (2013). A critical challenge: The engagement and assessment of contingent, part-time adjunct faculty professors in United States community colleges. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 38(2–3), 218–231. https://doi.org/10.1080/10668926.2014.851969
Jones, E., & de Wit, H. (2014). Globalized internationalization: Implications for policy and practice. IIE Networker, Spring, 28–29.
Kinders, M., Glenn, P., & Wilson, G. (2020). Budgeting in an era of political and institutional turmoil. In Handbook of research on operational quality assurance in higher education for life-long learning (pp. 379–395). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-0420-8.ch019
Larsen, A., & Emmett, S. (2023). The wicked problem of social equity in higher education: The conflicting discourses and the impact of COVID-19. In Higher education and social equity (pp. 29–48). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5008-7_3
Leask, B., & de Gayardon, A. (2021). Reimagining internationalization for society. Journal of Studies in International Education, 25(3), 197–213. https://doi.org/10.1177/10283153211033667
Lenette, C. (2016). University students from refugee backgrounds: Why should we care? Higher Education Research & Development, 35(6), 1090–1103. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2016.1190524
Maphosa, V. (2021). Factors influencing students’ perceptions towards e-learning adoption during COVID-19 pandemic: A developing country context. European Journal of Interactive Multimedia and Education, 2(2), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.30935/ejimed/10958
Marsevani, M. (2022). The challenges of e-learning for higher education lecturers and learners. Journal of Education Technology, 6(3), 467–477. https://doi.org/10.23887/jet.v6i3.45537
Mitchell, M., Leachman, M., & Masterson, K. (2017). A lost decade in higher education funding: State cuts have driven up tuition and reduced quality. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/83618
Naylor, R., Terry, L., Rizzo, A., Nguyen, N., & Mifsud, N. (2019). Structural inequality in refugee participation in higher education. Journal of Refugee Studies, 34(2), 2142–2158. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/fez042
Neshkovska, S. (2018). Contemporary challenges of higher education teachers. Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 20(2), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.2478/jtes-2018-0014
Ott, M., & Dippold, L. (2017). Adjunct employment preference: Who wants to be full-time faculty? Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 41(10), 613–625. https://doi.org/10.1080/10668926.2017.1283259
Pineda, P., & Mishra, S. (2022). The semantics of diversity in higher education: Differences between the Global North and Global South. Higher Education, 84(1), 137–155. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-022-00870-4
Rogers, G. (2015). Part-time faculty and community college student success. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 39(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/10668926.2014.908426
Rose, D. (2020). New proposals: Journal of Marxism and interdisciplinary inquiry. New Proposals, 10(1), 1–19. https://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/newproposals/article/view/192381
Saqib, Z. A., Zhang, Q., Ou, J., Saqib, K. A., Majeed, S., & Razzaq, A. (2020). Education for sustainable development in Pakistani higher education institutions: An exploratory study of students’ and teachers’ perceptions. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 21(6), 1249–1267. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-02-2020-0066
Schneider, L. (2018). Access and aspirations: Syrian refugees’ experiences of entering higher education in Germany. Research in Comparative and International Education, 13(3), 457–478. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745499918784764
Sit, F. (2024). Global inequalities in access and success in higher education. New Vistas, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.36828/newvistas.252
Stallivieri, L. (2017). Understanding the internationalization of higher education. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 39(4), 347–361. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2017.1330800
Taskoh, A., & Krug, D. (2020). Internationalization in Canadian higher education institutions: Ontario. Journal of International Education Research, 16(1), 43–56. https://doi.org/10.1177/2347631120930538
Thondhlana, J., Garwe, E., de Wit, H., Gacel-Ávila, J., Huang, F., & Tamarat, W. (2021). The Bloomsbury handbook of the internationalization of higher education in the Global South. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Tsou, C. (2019). Faculty motivation and challenges: A critical review of the literature. International Journal of Educational Research, 98, 123–135. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338499886
Tsou, C. (2024). Global challenges in higher education: A narrative literature review. Journal of Higher Education Policy Studies, 45(2), 211–230.
Ulmer, N., & Wydra, K. (2020). Sustainability in African higher education institutions (HEIs). International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 21(1), 18–33. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-01-2019-0026
UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean. (2023). The right to higher education and gender equality: Briefing note compendium. UNESCO IESALC.
United Nations. (2015). The sustainable development goals. https://sdgs.un.org/goals
Yousefi, M., & Binary, N. (2021). Globalization and internationalization in higher education: Terminologies, approaches, similarities, and differences. Turkish Online Journal of Qualitative Inquiry, 12(9), 2994–3004.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Copyright in the Journal of Social Sciences Review is retained by the author(s). Authors also grant any third party the right to use the article freely as long as its integrity is maintained and its original authors, citation details and publisher are identified.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
SSR's Editorial Board shares the vision of providing free access to information, education, and science for everyone, thus promoting its content through an OPEN ACCESS POLICY, fulfilling the DOAJ definition of open access. The JSSR adheres to an Open Access and Copyright Licensing Policy based on the belief that making research freely accessible to the public promotes greater global knowledge sharing.
The JSSR uses the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. The authors who apply and publish in JSSR consent to abide by the copyright policy set out in the Creative Commons 4.0 license (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license).
- Copyright in the Journal of Social Sciences Review is retained by the author(s).
 - Authors also grant any third party the right to use the article freely as long as its integrity is maintained and its original authors, citation details and publisher are identified.
 
While "By 'open access' to this literature, we mean its free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself."
						
							