NEWS, INFORMATION, RESEARCH AND RESOURCES ON STUDENT EQUITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION

"We do not have to be mental health experts to support students’ mental wellbeing. As a tutor or lecturer, librarian or learning skills advisor, it’s often our small actions that make a big difference."

To support you in taking a proactive approach as you prepare for the next university semester, a concise set of Guidelines for staff and Recommendations for universities have now been developed by Dr Nicole Crawford, informed by her NCSEHE Equity Fellowship research.

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New NCSEHE-funded research has explored the higher education aspirations, participation, and achievement of Australian Indigenous males.

The project, led by the Freemasons Centre for Male Health and Wellbeing — Northern Territory at Menzies School of Health Research, identified motivators, enabling factors and barriers to engaging in higher education for this cohort.

Dr Himanshu Gupta, Prof. James Smith and Mr Sam Moore provide an overview of project findings in a feature this month.

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Murdoch University student Saima Nazar Khan contributes to the NCSEHE website this month, considering inside-out and outside-in perspectives on disability, mental illness and student learning.

Saima is a trained teacher and counsellor, currently in her final year of the Diploma in Counselling. Saima is passionate about advocating for people with mental illness and challenging the stigma associated with psychosocial disability.

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Saima shares her personal experiences around education and mental illness, and the factors that contributed to her success, in our My Story — Student Voice series. We also hear Saima's reflections on tackling the stigma around disability and the impacts of COVID-19.

Read Saima's story

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New feature article by Prof. Maria Raciti explores possible futures for widening participation (WP) post-pandemic, beginning with changes to the language around WP.

"Much of the pre-pandemic WP script no longer works, but this loss, as I see it, provides us with an unprecedented opportunity to reauthor the WP playbook. We are no longer encumbered by the way things were, so let’s harness our agency, leverage our creativity and set about defining our own WP future rather than waiting for others to define it for us."

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A NCSEHE-funded team from the University of Tasmania has worked with communities to build their capacity to support students' education and career pathway decisions.

This month, chief investigator Prof. Sue Kilpatrick and the research team provide an overview of project outcomes and findings from Informing key influencers of low SES regional, rural and remote students’ education and career pathway choices: A whole of community approach.

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The NCSEHE and Equity Practitioners in Higher Education Australasia (EPHEA) welcomed nearly 200 participants from Australia and New Zealand for World Access to Higher Education Day (WAHED) Australasia 2021.

Highlights included a welcome address from Prof. Graeme Atherton (Director, NEON UK); an inspiring keynote from Prof. Maria Raciti (USC); and a rich panel discussion including disability practitioners and students. 

We were thrilled to celebrate almost 150 Champions for Change, recognised by their students and peers for exceptional dedication to supporting disadvantaged students. 

The two recipients of the NCSEHE and EPHEA Australasian Spotlight on Equity: Grants for recognition of impact were also announced, from RMIT University and Monash University. Congratulations to all of the deserving Champions for Change and grant recipients!

View the event overview, recording and transcript

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The National Career Development Learning Hub for Students with Disability project is funded by the National Careers Institute (NCI) and led by the NCSEHE.

The purpose of the project is to establish the first dedicated national Career Development Learning (CDL) Hub for students with disability which will showcase best practices in the field. The CDL Hub will assist others in developing bespoke and contextualised approaches to support the CDL of students with disability.

Read the latest bulletin with an overview of the project and a summary of progress and outputs to date

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