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

The NCSEHE Building Legacy and Capacity Project is a series of workshops and webinars designed to further extend the Centre’s capacity in synthesising, codifying and disseminating learnings from research and practice, and use them to inform future initiatives, studies and policy.

The third workshop in the series, at The University of Sydney on Friday 6 April 2018, will put a spotlight on data sovereignty and the importance of listening to Indigenous perspectives on evaluation in Indigenous higher education.

Facilitators James Smith (Menzies School of Health Research and NCSEHE) and Kim Robertson (Charles Darwin University) will present findings from James’s 2017 NCSEHE Equity Fellowship project, leading into guided discussion with an invited expert panel.

Read more information about this workshop and the Building Legacy and Capacity project.

We would like to invite you to participate in a webinar on 18 April 2018 between 1pm and 2pm AEDT, following on from the preceding Building Legacy and Capacity workshop. 

Presented by James Smith and Kim Robertson, the webinar will review the background material, followed by an overview of the workshop outcomes. Webinar participants will be given the opportunity to join the discussion with questions and comments. 

More information and registration details.

The migration of regional and remote students to pursue careers in metropolitan areas has been well documented. This has a significant impact on regional and remote communities and economies. 

After relocating from Karratha to study medicine at UWA, Arshya Pankaj is now looking forward to furthering her career in regional Australia. Aspire UWA was instrumental in helping her resolve the barriers to her higher education success. 

Read Arshya's story here. 

Our recent case study publication, Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program: Seven Years On showcased 35 Australian HEPPP funded initiatives, marking seven years of the Australian Government Department of Education and Training program. 

Collaboration and sharing good practice case studies is essential in forwarding student equity in higher education, so the Centre continues to feature individual reports through the NCSEHE website. 

The Student Futures Program is a suite of initiatives that supports students through preparation for and transition to university, contributing to student retention and success. SFP is founded on peer support, with a large portion of HEPPP funding allocated to employing students as peer leaders. 

The School Partnerships Program is designed to increase low SES student university participation. Through collaboration with 32 low SES schools, the program delivers engagement activities to support the demystification of higher education and provide extra curriculum support, academic preparation, and awareness of university courses and future careers.

The Girls in ICT — Venus project was established to enthuse and inspire female Year 9 and 10 students from low SES areas about careers in the Computer and Security Sciences (C&SS). Through hands-on activity sessions with partnering schools, and career seminars at ECU, this project demonstrated positive attitudinal change toward careers in C&SS. 

I am privileged to be able to offer my contribution to the recently announced Equity Research and Innovation Panel alongside respected academics and equity practitioners from the Department of Education and Training, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, University of Newcastle, ACER, The Smith Family, Macquarie University, Queensland University of Technology, the University of Tasmania, the University of Queensland and CQUniversity.

The Panel will contribute their collective expertise in higher education equity research and/or practice to advise the Australian Government Department of Education and Training on future directions for research and policy.

Continue reading.

A recent study by NCSEHE Post Doctoral Fellow Lynette Vernon, Stuart Watson and Andrew Taggart (Murdoch University) finds school-university partnerships can crystalise realistic possibilities for high school students, supporting both academic desires and expectations.

Read the full article in the Australian and International Journal of Rural Education.

NCSEHE Adjunct Fellows Cathy Stone (University of Newcastle) and Sarah O'Shea (University of Wollongong) have co-authored an article examining the nature of the online student experience for mature age, First-in-Family students.

The paper was supported in part by Cathy's 2016 Equity Fellowship project, Opportunity through Online Learning: Improving student access, participation and success in higher education.

Read the full article in the Australasian Journal of Educational Technology.

On 26 February, Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education (CSHE) at The University of Melbourne and KPMG presented a seminar addressing issues around equality in education. 

Invited speakers included Andrew Norton (Grattan Institute), Andrew Harvey (La Trobe University), and Martin Doel (University College London Institute of Education), and the session was Chaired by Kerri-Lee Krause (La Trobe University)

An audio recording is now available on the CSHE website.

Listen to the recording (located at the bottom of the web page).

The team from Student Success journal have just released their second issue for 2018 - now available online.

Student Success is a biannual, open access, peer-reviewed academic journal with contributions from researchers, tertiary and university teachers and educators and professional staff. One issue per year is linked to the Students Transitions Achievement Retention and Success (STARS) Conference. 

Read the latest issue. 

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