News, information and research on student equity in higher education from the NCSEHE Director, Professor Sue Trinidad.

With only 22 days to go, we look forward to welcoming you to World Access to Higher Education Day (WAHED) Australia at Curtin University in Perth on 28 November 2018. It will be a wonderful afternoon with over 130 delegates from around Australia celebrating the "student voice" and national research in this important area. This includes the work of the NCSEHE Equity Fellows and 2017 Research Fellow Maria Raciti. Through a live link to Aston University, we will join the launch of WAHED UK.

On Friday 2 November 2018, Robert Latta (Branch Manager, Governance, Quality and Access Branch, Higher Education Group, Australian Government Department of Education and Training) announced the National Priorities Pool (NPP) funding for 2019. Along with the NCSEHE contract there will be a number of commissioned projects. Further information will follow through the EIO process. 

The NCSEHE will run the Equity Fellows program and a competitive grants program in 2019-21. Application processes will be provided next month so you can prepare well ahead of deadlines if your university is considering applying.

Again, please enjoy reading about all the wonderful news, events and activities taking place as we approach the end of another successful year.

Kind regards,
Professor Sue Trinidad
Director
National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education

Registration is still open for World Access to Higher Education Day (WAHED), so we would love to hear from you if you would like to be a part of this exciting global initiative.

WAHED Australia will feature:

• Keynote speech by Professor Glenn Withers 
• Student panel chaired by Sally Kift 
• My Story — Student Voice: personal stories of overcoming barriers to success and student perspectives on the future of higher education
• Maria Raciti — 2018 NCSEHE Research Fellowship project: How the perceived risks of going to university influence the decision by people from low SES backgrounds to participate in Australian higher education
• Matt Brett and Nadine Zacharias — A Vision for Student Equity 2030 report release
• Research report release — People seeking asylum in Australia: Access and support in higher education
• Live satellite cross to launch World Access to Higher Education Day UK
• And more...

More information and registrations here. 

Over the last two months, the NCSEHE has conducted a series of Australia-wide roundtables exploring key concepts and challenges associated with achieving student equity in higher education.

Over 110 participants—across 10 events—discussed key questions raised in the Student Equity 2030 Discussion Paper to collaboratively shape a long-term vision for student equity in Australian higher education. 

Nadine Zacharias (NCSEHE) and Matt Brett (Deakin University) will now collate group outcomes, along with written submissions, to produce a final report which will be released at the NCSEHE World Access to Higher Education Day conference. 

We welcomed University of Worcester Vice-Chancellor Professor David Green and Ross Renton, Pro Vice-Chancellor Students, and Forum for Access and Continuing Education Vice-Chair, to the NCSEHE in October.

It was a great pleasure to share international perspectives with two individuals so committed to student equity in higher education.

Professor David Green is one of the longest serving VCs in the United Kingdom and has been a pioneer in building an inclusive campus. Ross Renton has been re-appointed as the Widening Participation Expert for the Subject Level Teaching Excellence Framework in the UK, and is Chair of Widening Participation for GuildHE (32 small and specialist higher education institutions).

The Society for the Provision of Education in Rural Australia (SPERA), in partnership with the NCSEHE, invites you to attend the 34th National SPERA Conference on 29-30 November 2018.

Subthemes based on John Halsey’s 2018 Independent Review on Rural, Regional and Remote Education:

• Global directives 
• Asset-driven place-based innovations 
• More than IT solutions
• ESL, language and learning 
• Poverty and power 
• System-level equity 

More information and registrations here. 

Since 1994, SPERA has presented the annual Australian Rural Education Awards to an institution, organisation or industry displaying excellence in rural education.

It was the first national award recognising both excellence in rural education and promoting creative ways of meeting the educational needs of rural families and their communities.

Category winners will receive complementary 2018 SPERA Conference registration for one delegate and a trophy. Runners-up will receive a citation recognising their achievement.

More information and nominations.

Tahlia Danks grew up in a low socioeconomic suburb in Sydney’s south-west, and is the first in her family to consider attending university after having participated in the University of Technology Sydney (UTS)’s Widening Participation Strategy U@Uni program in 2012.

In 2017, the NCSEHE featured Tahlia through the My Story — Student Voice series. We caught up with Tahlia again to talk about her path through education, moving forward to work with Charles Sturt University’s Future Moves program, helping other underrepresented students realise their full potential.

Read Tahlia's story. 

Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) student TJ Hogan, a member of the Traveller community in Ireland, has thrived in higher education with support around his dyslexia.

"With the recent support, I have found myself looking forward to the future, setting goals and targets to achieve along the way. 

This has given me the chance to make myself a better person and focus on the career that I have a great passion for. Hopefully, I will have great success from the learning and personal development I’ve had as a student at CIT."

TJ's story is the second in our International Student Voice series, featured in the lead-up to World Access to Higher Education Day on 28 November 2018. 

Read TJ's story. 

The NCSEHE showcased 35 university programs in our 2017 publication Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program: Seven Years On. Sharing good practice across the sector is critical in moving toward student equity, and we continue to feature individual initiatives throughout 2018.

Explore offers a creative approach to developing children’s career aspirations during their upper primary years to improve understanding and awareness of higher education as a viable post-school option. The program offers a suite of online lessons for Years 4, 5 and 6, based on the themes of adventure and discovery.

In2Uni fosters engagement with students from Years 6–12 in communities with a high representation of low socioeconomic status students. On-campus visits, study skills programs, workshops, master classes and a university preparation program are designed to raise students' aspirations, attainment, awareness and access to higher education.

Murdoch’s Aspirations and Pathways for University (MAP4U) program supported schools and agencies to develop and implement a range of innovative programs designed to increase the participation in higher education of underrepresented students from the south-west corridor of Perth.

Inclusive Curriculum and Capacity Building (ICCB) has enabled more than 25 projects to transform curriculum and develop a stronger university culture of inclusive teaching and learning. The program supports students from diverse backgrounds and aims to develop awareness and appreciation of diversity as a valuable resource. 

Congratulations go to the NCSEHE's Dr Lynette Vernon, awarded the Murdoch University Higher Degree by Research Prize – Psychology for top publication by a Higher Degree by Research student in Psychology.

A copy of the awarded paper, Mobile Phones in the Bedroom: Trajectories of Sleep Habits and Subsequent Adolescent Psychosocial Development, can be requested here. Following international uptake, the research was also translated for Latino parents via a video clip and distributed by the Child Trends News Service (CTNS). Access the short video of the research here.

The award was presented by Dr Guy Curtis, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Murdoch University (pictured).

Applications are now open for the Rural and Regional Enterprise Scholarships Program.

Scholarships of up to $18,000 are available to support students studying on campus or through online and distance education through a university or at a vocational education and training institution. 

More information here.