<< Background >>The main objective of the ADORE project is to educate university teaching and training staff working in the field of communication on accessible content publishing and how to provide a more inclusive teaching experience in communication programmes. The project will establish a unique partnership between higher education institutions, training organisations and the private sector, with the overarching goal of mainstreaming accessibility skills in higher education curricula for communication disciplines, and to prepare students for the current and future needs of the economy and society.Context: According to the World Bank, one billion people, or 15% of the world's population, experience some form of disability. The prevalence of disability amongst the world population, coupled with a shift towards the provision and consumption of information in digital formats, has increased the need for accessible content publishing. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has made this need is even greater than before, with public authorities being forced to provide crisis information in a digital format. It is essential that this information is accessible and reaches all citizens, including underrepresented groups such as People with Disabilities (PwD), older adults and immigrants, leaving no one behind. What is accessible content publishing? The term accessible content publishing means the generation of information that can be used by people from a population with the widest user needs, characteristics and capabilities. For example, deaf people need information in sign language and visually impaired people need auditive information. What is meant by higher education communication programmes? This proposal refers to bachelors, Masters and PHD programmes or courses at European universities that focus on communication and include modules such as communication leadership and management, communication strategy, public relations, digital communication, media, marketing, amongst others. Why target higher education communication programmes? As of the 23rd of September 2020, the EU’s Web Accessibility Directive obliges public sector websites and apps to comply with accessibility requirements. Despite the implementation of this Directive in national legislation across the EU, most digital content is still not accessible to all users. It is therefore clear that those studying to work in the field of communication require access to specific training to be able to design and publish content in an accessible way. This, coupled with the growing insight that accessible digital content is better for everyone, will increase the demand for communication professionals who possess accessibility skills. However, there is not yet a corresponding supply of skilled professionals to meet this demand. Accessibility is usually not included within the communication programme curricula in higher education and more focus needs to be given on the different individual needs of the potential target audiences. As a result, many entry-level digital communication professionals are unfamiliar with accessible content creation.<< Objectives >>The main objective of the ADORE project is to educate university teaching and training staff working in the field of communication on accessible content publishing and how to provide a more inclusive teaching experience in communication programmes. The project will establish a unique partnership between higher education institutions, training organisations and the private sector, with the overarching goal of mainstreaming accessibility skills in higher education curricula for communication disciplines, and to prepare students for the current and future needs of the economy and society.The specific objectives include: Specific objective 1: to analyse the current situation and bridge the gaps with regards to •accessibility training needs of university teaching and training staff in the field of communication. •issues faced by underrepresented groups when accessing digital communication content. Specific objective 2: to clearly identify higher education courses and programmes related to the field of communication where there is an opportunity for accessibility to be included in the curricula. Specific objective 3: to improve the accessibility knowledge of university teachers and trainers in the field of communication. Specific objective 4: to facilitate access to the labour market for students of higher education communication. Specific objective 5: to stimulate the uptake of accessibility in the higher education communication curricula in European universities.<< Implementation >>The ADORE project aims to achieve the project results through the execution of activities such as: •Survey on accessibility training needs of higher education communications programme teaching and training staff.•Survey on issues faced by underrepresented when accessing digital communication content.• Mapping of higher education communication programmes where accessibility training can be included.• Co-creation and testing workshops for accessibility training toolkit• Online focus groups to develop the Personas • Accessibility Policy Workshop<< Results >>The ADORE project will achieve the following results:Result 1: Gap analysis on accessibility training needs analysis for university teaching and training staff in fields related to communication.Result 2: Mapping of higher education communication programmes where accessibility training can be included.Result 3: Co-creation of a needs-based accessibility training toolkit for university teaching and training staff working on higher education communication programmes.Result 4: Development of a set of personas representing professional profiles in the field of accessible communication.Result 5: Recommendations on the inclusion of accessibility in curricula for higher education communication programmes.These results will generate the following impact/outputs:Local and regional: •Increased accessibility knowledge and capacity of university teachers and trainers in communication programmes. •More accessible communication publishing.•Access to more inclusive teaching and learning environments in higher education communication programmes. •Greater awareness on accessibility in higher education communication programmes. •Enhanced employability of communication students. National: •Contribution to a more effective implementation of the Web Accessibility Directive in national law-making. The project team also hope that the project results will spur on more thorough compliance o the spirit of the Directive in public and private sectors.•Potential to use the project as a best practice to extrapolate the results to other universities at national level.•Positioning of ADORE partner universities as references in accessible communication programmes and inclusive teaching and learning environments. European/International: •A wider uptake of accessibility training within higher education communication curricula. •Access to effective training materials on accessibility in higher education programmes that can be adopted in other European universities. •Even out the compliance with the Web Accessibility Directive between partner countries and beyond.