The agreement was signed on Friday 25 November by the Rector of UIC Barcelona, Dr Xavier Gil Mur, and Francesc Xavier Pérez Conesa, regional coordinator in Catalonia for the Adecco Foundation, whose main goal is to teach future professionals about the implementation of accessible architecture projects that help get people with disabilities into work. According to Pérez Conesa, "by educating professionals on accessibility and inclusive design, we play a role in eliminating a highly significant barrier, which often prevents people with disabilities from securing employment".

With the course on Accessibility, students get a taste of what having a disability means by riding wheelchairs or walking with a cane, blindfold or ear plugs around the University Campus. This experience drives home and raises awareness about the importance of accessibility in the personal and professional development of people with disabilities. Course participants also analyse the current legislation and new trends, the design of urban space, buildings and homes and accessibility in transport, media and communications. This 50-hour course, which consists of theoretical classes, workshops and visits, focuses on the private sphere, because "homes should be accessible and should be able to be used for life, including those stages of life in which the inhabitants' level of dependency increases temporarily or permanently, particularly as they age", explains architect Rovira-Beleta.

As part of the course's final project, students are required to perform an adaptation study of their home and/or a project from another course. They also have to complete individual tests/exercises about how the regulations on accessibility are implemented in terms of urban planning, public and private construction projects, means of transport and the relevant communications systems, with a view to making an assessment.

The online interactive version of the Postgraduate Degree in Accessibility and Design for All is the first formal academic initiative to take a global and cross-cutting approach to accessibility. Whereas accessibility requirements differ by country, this programme plays a vital role in making Design for All universal and versatile.

The programme combines theory and practice and its work sessions are virtual and interactive (online). As a result, students may follow it from anywhere in the world and the professors are based in various countries. This postgraduate degree is taught by recognised domestic and international professionals in a number of industry fields and Design for All, as well as representatives from organisations for people with disabilities and institutions that provide universal accessibility services.

The purpose of both the course on Accessibility and Postgraduate Degree in Accessibility and Design for All is to educate the technical personnel responsible for formulating, designing and building our cities and spaces and ensure that they incorporate the principles of accessibility not just as a regulatory obligation, but as part of the design concept, with a solid command of all necessary aspects, such that the implemented accessibility measures are unnoticeable. According to Rovira-Beleta, the goal is for students to discover what people with disabilities are capable of and to understand that "accessibility is not just a necessity for people with disabilities, but something that benefits everyone and improves the quality of all projects".

These initiatives, the first of their kind in Spain, Europe and Latin America, seek to educate future architects and technical personnel on accessibility in building construction (refurbishment, heritage, adaptability, smart homes, etc.) and raise awareness of the importance of addressing this problem from the bottom-up, adapting buildings for all people, particularly people with disabilities.

Created in July 1999, the Adecco Foundation is the product of Adecco Group's Corporate Social Responsibility as a world leader in human resource management. Its main objective is the labour integration of people who due to individual characteristics have greater difficulty finding employment.