Research instruments to evaluate the development of inclusive culture at universities

The article deals with the issue of inclusive education at Russian universities that is widely regarded as the strategy of supporting and satisfying the needs of diverse groups of learners and educators. In order to introduce the idea of inclusion as a resource of individual development it is necessary to create an inclusive culture at every institution of higher education. In this paper the authors define the concept of «inclusive culture at university», describe its structure and explain its significance for the development of university's image. The article presents the description of the research instrument enabling the evaluation of the existence and the level of inclusive culture. This research instrument includes two content parts that allow evaluating the creation of «inclusive community» and the establishment of «inclusive values». Besides, the authors describe the indicators for each of the content parts. The research has been conducted in the Vologda state university and the data received allowed the authors to test the questionnaires and to analyze the findings. The authors conclude that it might be possible to apply this method not only to assess the level of inclusive culture but also to reveal its «strengths» and «weaknesses» allowing university authorities to plan activities for their development and/or correction.