We look back at the year that's been and wish you a relaxing holiday season.
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2025: Our year in review
Dear colleagues
2025 has been a busy and productive year for ACSES. We have seen significant accomplishments and movement in three distinct areas:
Our work has closed in on the specifics of programs that Australian universities pursue to support disadvantaged students.
Our analyses and data have been used to shape institutional policies and practices.
The federal government has moved to implement the Australian Universities Accord and create a more equity-centric higher education system in Australia.
My own particular focus has been more heavily on the latter. As the year ends and a new one dawns, the basic architecture of the new Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC) sits before the Commonwealth Parliament, and we expect the specific powers and scope of the new body to crystallise early in 2026.
The point of ATEC is to enable a coherent way of managing a national higher education system, something that many countries across the globe would see as a surprising gap in Australia until now. Moreover, with such a system-wide approach, it becomes possible to tackle the sources of inequity and exclusion in a credible, joined up fashion.
What lies ahead is a system-wide approach. Therefore, a lot rests on individual universities becoming as well-informed as possible about the effectiveness of the measures they are taking, and this is where ACSES’s programs that are building capacity among equity professionals are central. In the coming period, we need to be shrewd about embedding this know-how in universities’ day to day business.
On behalf of ACSES, I wish you a restful holiday season. We remain grateful for your continued interest and commitment, and we look ahead with anticipation to a busy and productive 2026.
Regards
Professor Shamit Saggar CBE FAcSS
Executive Director
Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success
Reflections on 2025 from our Program Directors
It has been a productive and eventful year for all three of our programs—Research and Policy, Data, and Trials and Evaluation—as we work harmoniously in the pursuit for an equitable higher education environment for all students. Our Program Directors have shared some of their highlights for the year and insights into 2026:
A quick look into what we have achieved...
New report calls for culturally safe pathways to support Indigenous PhD scholars
A new Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success (ACSES) research report examines the experiences of PhD scholars in Australia, Turtle Island Canada, and Aotearoa New Zealand and how they are championing community-informed and Indigenous-led research at the cultural interface of higher education.
The report outlines how Indigenous PhD students are asserting their agency within Western academic institutions, carving a path that is culturally appropriate and responsive to Indigenous ways of being, doing, and knowing.
This research advocates for the need of tailored programs and pathways for Indigenous doctoral students, with Indigenous peer networks, cohorts, Indigenous academics, and Indigenous research units/organisations providing crucial support systems and a sense of cultural safety for Indigenous PhD students.
Led by Shawana Andrews from the University of Melbourne and the Melbourne Poche Centre for Indigenous Health, the report was developed as part of the ACSES Small Grants Program, and was co-authored by Tahlia Eastman, Emily Munro-Harrison, and Odette Mazel.
Read the full report here.
Data Resources Hub updates
Interactive Data Tool
Our Interactive Data Tool has been updated with 2024 TCSI data, enabling users to explore institution-level student equity patterns across participation, retention, success and completion.
Access our Interactive Data Tool here.
New ACSES Data Insights Series report released
We have also released an updated report, Students with disability in Australian higher education: Analysis of 2024 data (2025 update). The report examines both the prevalence of reported disability among undergraduate students and the extent of variation in reporting across institutions.
In 2024, 13.5% of undergraduate students reported having a disability; however, institutional reporting ranged widely, from 5.1% to 23.3% of the undergraduate cohort. The greatest variation was observed in reporting of mental health conditions, with institutional rates spanning from 1.5% to 14.6%.
Read the full report on the ACSES website.
ACSES Evaluation Learning Program
The first streams of the ACSES Evaluation Learning Program—a free, fully online training initiative designed to build evaluation capability for equity practitioners and others in the higher education sector—are now available.
The first streams available are on Introduction to Equity Evaluation and Program Logic Models for Equity Evaluation. Digital badges are awarded upon completion of each stream.
ACSES PLM Tool
The ACSES PLM Tool is an online app supporting equity program design and evaluation by building Program Logic Models (PLMs).
Program Logic Models are visual depictions of a program that helps clarify the program intent, align resources and activities with intended outcomes, and assist in communicating with stakeholders. They form the core of program planning and evaluation by identifying the intended impacts this work should measure.
Built on the Student Equity in Higher Education Evaluation Framework (SEHEEF), the ACSES PLM Tool is intended to help universities map, at the program level, intended relationships between resources, activities, and the intended outcomes.
The tool includes the ability to create a PLM with individual university branding, with PLMs able to be exported in PDF version. Models can also be saved and reimported for future editing as programs change and evolve.
The tool is available on the Equity Hub website.
Indigenous Success: Senior Leadership Capability Building Modules open for enrolments
We're excited to announce that the course "Indigenous Success: Senior Leadership Capability Building Modules" is now available for fee-free enrolments.
Developed by Professor Peter J. Anderson, PhD, (University of New England (AU), formerly Griffith University) as part of his ACSES First Nations Fellowship, this free program includes six modules that aim to equip senior leaders with the knowledge, skills, and strategies needed to advance Indigenous education. The modules build upon institutional knowledge while developing broader strategic understanding, practical skills, and cultural competence, aiming to strengthen the capability of senior leaders to lead with confidence and cultural integrity.
Join the program today if you want to elevate your leadership skills and make a difference in Indigenous education.
