The aim of our study is to present different kinds of obstacles that hindered the successful educational progress of our Roma university student interviewees from disadvantaged backgrounds. The theme is equality and equity, which is examined in the context of inclusion, empowerment, resilience and intersectionality (Varga, 2017), and to investigate their effect on positive power of performance, the positive psychological capital. Our research sample consists of the community members of the diverse Roma Student College of Pécs. The studied university students are considered resilient (Masten, Herbers, Cutuli, & Lafavor, 2008), as they have overcome the hardships of their family background and learn in higher education. Our study gives an analysis of 27 life-path interviews conducted in 2017. In these life-path interviews, we have found the external sources of resilience: supportive families, models of friends and siblings, and teachers' support as well. The intrinsic changes of personality have been prominent in the narratives, which could often balance out the negative effects with the positive psychological capital. The “building blocks” of this capital (Luthans et al., 2007) can be detected at common points in walk of life interviews, such as positive self-image, motivation, goal-orientation, and conscious planning. The positive role of the Roma Student College community appeared in their narratives as a strikingly relevant factor, from which we can assume that the shared development of different “capital types” results in investments in the interiorization process of individual members.

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Organisations and their programmes that specifically address target groups play an important role in creating inclusive educational environments. In this study, through the life stories of Roma students and by examining, describing, and analysing their formalcommunity (the Roma Student Society Network), the authors present principles and dynamics in a model, which may be used as a basis for creating an inclusive environment in the specific context of a university. Our aim in writing this paper is to detail and embed in a process-based model of inclusion the capital accumulation provided by the Roma Student Society, an organisational structure that offers successful social mobility pathways for Roma students. Furthermore, by presenting the results of an empirical study about the Wlislocki Henrik Roma Student Society (WHSz) at the University of Pécs in Hungary and comparing this data to the research results of Roma student societies in other educational institutions across the country, the authors will try to demonstrate and model the necessity, success, and adaptability of WHSz as a support programme.

Book: Jaimie Hoffman, Patrick Blessinger and Mandla Makhanya (Eds). (2019). Strategies for Facilitating Inclusive Campuses in Higher Education. International Perspectives on Equity and Inclusion. Innovations in Higher Education Teaching and Learning. Volume 17. Emerald Publishing Limited. Howard House, UK. p. 309.

The aim of our research is to present how the identity and social responsibility wasstrengthened by a Roma Student College in Higher Education. We rely on the literature ofequality and equity, which is examined in the context of empowerment, resilience andintersectionality (Varga, 2017). Our research sample consists of the community membersof the diverse (Roma, non-Roma, disadvantaged students) Roma Student College of Pécs,Hungary. The sample university students are considered resilient (Masten, 2008), as they haveovercome the hardships of their family background and study now in Higher Education.Our study gives an analysis and highlights of 27 biographical interviews from the perspectiveof their pre-university years and the years spent as Student College members. The summaryof the grant period between 2016 and 2018 will reveal the diverse programs, which wereavailable for students in the Student College and can be divided into three main groups.The positive role of some of these and the Student College community appeared in thenarratives as a strikingly relevant factor.