Inclusive Pedagogical Practices for Students with Disabilities in Higher Education Institutions: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Inclusive higher education has become both a human-rights obligation and a development priority, yet enrolling students with disabilities does not guarantee that they are taught inclusively. This scoping review mapped the breadth of literature on inclusive pedagogical practices for students with disabilities in tertiary education, aligned with Sustainable Development Goals 4 and 10. Guided by Arksey and O'Malley's five-stage framework and reported in line with PRISMA-ScR, a systematic search of Google Scholar, ERIC, Scopus, and Web of Science retrieved studies published between 2015 and 2025. After duplicate removal, title-and-abstract screening, and full-text eligibility assessment by two independent reviewers, 27 studies were included in the final synthesis. Thematic synthesis generated five interconnected themes: Universal Design for Learning as a proactive instructional framework; faculty attitudes, beliefs, and professional competence; accommodations, disclosure, and bureaucratic gatekeeping; student voice, lived experience, and belonging; and institutional policy, culture, and systemic conditions. Across themes, the most persistent finding was the gap between formal provision and lived reality, where accommodations, policies, and frameworks were endorsed in principle but enacted only superficially. The evidence base was further marked by methodological limitations and a strong concentration in high-income, English-speaking contexts, leaving the realities of the Global South underexamined. The review concludes that meaningful inclusion depends as much on relational, cultural, and systemic conditions as on technical structures, and calls for methodologically stronger, contextually grounded, and participatory research to advance equitable tertiary education for students with disabilities worldwide.