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The objectives of the NT Indigenous Higher Education Policy Review were to: (a) Explore Indigenous perspectives of underlying principles of success in Indigenous higher education policy; (b) Identify cultural, socio-political and environmental factors that enable successful policy implementation from the perspectives of Indigenous 'users' of higher education policy; and (c) Explore the relationship between Indigenous perspectives of successful Indigenous higher education policy and practice, Northern Territory and national higher education policy, and Indigenous higher education enrolment and completion outcomes, in order to inform future policy reform and development.

This research took a mixed-methods approach incorporating: a policy review; semi-structured interviews with Indigenous higher education stakeholders; and Indigenous student higher education enrolment and completion outcomes data.

The project successfully explored Indigenous perspectives of success in higher education in the NT, and how higher education policy can most effectively cater to their needs. It is well documented that for policies to be effective, they must be guided by the needs and priorities of those who are served by the actions of governments and organisations and underpinned by long-term financial investment. The design, data collection, analysis and reporting processes of this research project were informed by the perspectives of Indigenous people who have extensive experience in both the NT and National higher education settings. They have seen various policy approaches develop and evolve over many years. It is these experts - with their lived experiences of implementing and using Indigenous higher education policies - as Indigenous people, whose perspectives matter. Although these policy lessons have been developed through exploring the history of Indigenous higher education policy in the NT, the underpinning themes of control and ownership are highly relevant to the national setting. Learnings from this project are particularly urgent for policy-makers to consider given current proposed reforms to the higher education sector. If deregulatory measures continue, we posit that this will have profound impacts on the engagement and participation of Indigenous people within higher education across the NT and nationally. Implementation of higher education policy goals - economic, social, cultural or otherwise - will continue to be constrained, and so too the achievement of 'success' no matter how it is defined.

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Current policies that guide Indigenous higher education in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia focus on the importance of achieving 'outcomes'. These policies include the Universities Australia (UA) 'Indigenous Strategy 2017-2020, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Strategy 2015' and the NT Department of Education's 'A Share in the Future Indigenous Education Strategy 2015-2024'. Looking back at various Indigenous higher education policies over the past fifty years, however, it appears that achieving 'outcomes' was not always the goal. To understand why approaches to Indigenous higher education policy in the NT and at the national level exist as they do today, and to understand what has and has not worked in the context of historical change, it is important to reflect on how policy has evolved. Changing governments, shifting socio-political discourses, and various Indigenous advocates have all had considerable and cumulative effects on Indigenous higher education policy. In this paper, we use a discursive narrative approach to chronologically outline the evolution of Indigenous higher education policy in the NT.

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