The aim of this study is to investigate if lecturers’ preparedness to include students with special educational needs (SEN) is enhanced by professional development courses offered at their universities. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2011) states that people with disabilities should be given the necessary support within the public education system to facilitate their education, which also applies to higher education. Disability reduces the likelihood to complete secondary education and increases the likelihood of experiencing harassment and discrimination during education (Pijl, Frostad & Mjavatn, 2014). In turn, this may cause unemployment. Different kinds of disabilities are differently treated; an inclusive approach is stronger towards students with visible disabilities, while students with invisible disabilities are less inclusively treated (Moriña Díez, López, & Molina, 2015). This point at a lack of understanding of the needs SEN students have, with unequal learning possibilities for SEN students with invisible disabilities. Results also unveils the lack of basic training for lecturers to support SEN students (Naik, 2017). One of the SEN student group with invisible disabilities are students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The challenges of higher education are prominent for this group, more than 50% of young adults in this group are neither being in employment nor included in higher education, and the lecturer’s knowledge of ASD is limited (Cai, & Richdale, 2016). As previous research has pointed out teachers’ expressed lack of readiness to teach SEN students in higher education, this study aims to answer the following research questions; 1. How do higher education teachers consider their own and their university’s competence to educate SEN students?, 2. How do higher education teachers rate their work with SEN students in higher education?, and 3. What competence do higher education teachers find necessary to teach SEN students? Lecturers from two university faculties managing teacher and special education programs answered a questionnaire about their skills to teach students with SEN. At university A (UA), SEN at higher education was not included in the mandatory courses for lecturers at the faculty, while at university B (UB) the courses included content about teaching SEN students. In total, the questionnaire was answered by 104 lecturers (65 at university A, and 39 at university B). The results show a significant (p=0.012) difference between the teachers’ needs of professional development. At UB, lecturers rate their own competence as well as the organizational ability to meet SEN students igher than lecturers at UA. Lecturers at UB are rating higher competence regardless of disability. Lecturers at UB rate higher competence regarding visual impairment (p=0.085), hearing impairment (p=0.076) and neuropsychiatric disorders (p=0.082) compared to lecturers at UA. The result show the need and importance of mandatory courses about SEN in higher education to foster an inclusive learning environment.