Social Inclusion in Higher Education: Accountability Practices and Challenges in Ex Transition Country

Social inclusion should be considered as the society’s mission, goal and challenge. Transition countries moved slower towards catching up accountability practices in developed countries, accompanied by modest advancements in corporate responsibility or sustainability reporting. Transition processes left many people in worsened socioeconomic position, with twofold consequences. The problems arose regarding getting them back on the scene, i.e. developing models of involving in normal life, educational, cultural and working community and on the other hand, unemployment and low life standard pushed the problems of different vulnerable groups as inferior topics. Decades after the beginnings of transition, the raising awareness of social inclusion is noticed, with current detailed regulatory requirements in line with EU legislation. Here we analyse the experiences in Croatia, focusing on the public higher education sector inclusion activities under strict funds limitations, and related accounting practices by presenting the case study of public university and its contributions to the goal of making higher education accessible and supportive to vulnerable groups. It offers examples of inclusion activities embedded in academic life and captured by accounting solutions as well as suggested fields for improvements to reduce the gap between declarative and real inclusive practices.