Search Results

The third workshop in the NCSEHE Building Legacy and Capacity Workshop series puts a spotlight on data sovereignty and the importance of listening to Indigenous perspectives on evaluation in Indigenous higher education. Show less

This Progress Report conveys something of the life and pace of the first three years (2008-2011) of Australia’s National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education during its establishment phase. The Report is a record of significant activity and influence in student equity research, practice and policy informed by a new agenda for widening participation in Australian higher education. It also provides direction for the sector in pursuing that agenda. The evidence in the pages of this Report suggests that much has been achieved but the task is big and far from complete. Student equity in Australian higher education is still a work in progress. The lesson of the UK’s widening participation agenda is that change occurs slowly and incrementally. Changing entrenched socioeconomic and cultural arrangements requires coordinated commitments of time, funding and informed effort. In these pages you will find an account of the National Centre’s activities to date. However, more importantly we trust you will also get a sense of the way forward and of what can be achieved collaboratively, through informed policy and practice.

Excerpt from published document. Show less

The second workshop in the series put a spotlight on the higher education participation and completion outcomes of regional and remote students. While Australian universities have engaged in strategic efforts to address the lower participation and completion rates of regional and remote students for many years, there is currently renewed interest by the Australian Government. For equity practitioners, researchers and policymakers, there remain questions about the nature of the problem and the best ways to support people in regional and remote locations to access and succeed in higher education.

This workshop brought together a group of subject matter experts who came at the topic from different perspectives. The following questions were considered: How can universities successfully mitigate the structural challenges faced by their (potential) student cohort, especially regional institutions which themselves suffer from systemic disadvantage? How do universities create both flexibility and consistency in the student experience for a cohort which increases in diversity with increased distance from (metropolitan) campuses? Do these strategies work for Indigenous students who make up a significantly larger share of regional and remote cohorts then metropolitan ones? How do institutions manage critical first encounters, clarify expectations, address the diverse and often complex needs of students and create a sense of belonging in a massified system looking for further efficiencies? Should policy approaches focus on creating scale and critical mass or on delivering local support to smaller and more remote communities? Is it possible to move beyond geographical limitations to create supportive, technology-enabled third spaces?

Edited excerpts from publisher's website. Show less

The National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE) aims to close the gap between equity research, policy and practice. The NCSEHE supports and informs the evaluation of current equity practice; identifies innovative approaches to equity, and subsequent gaps in knowledge, through research conducted by universities across Australia; and seeks to translate learnings into practical advice for decision makers and practitioners alike. In 2014, the NCSEHE introduced an annual, competitive research grants program designed to identify the ways in which Australian higher education access, participation, and success might be improved. The publication, Informing Policy and Practice: 2014 Student Equity in Higher Education Research Grants Program Projects, brought together the first 12 of 24 projects the NCSEHE has funded to date through its research program. This publication, Informing Policy and Practice II: 2015 Student Equity in Higher Education Research Grants Program Projects, provides a summary of the subsequent 12 projects.

Summary from publisher's website.

Chapters: Exploring the retention and success of students with disability / Sue Kilpatrick, Susan Johns, Robin Barnes, Darlene McLennan, Sarah Fischer and Kerri Magnussen; Investigating the relationship between equity and graduate outcomes in Australia / Sarah Richardson, Dawn Bennett and Lynne Roberts; Labour market outcomes of Australian university graduates from equity groups / Ian Li, Stephane Mahuteau, Alfred Michael Dockery, P.N. (Raja) Junankar and Kostas Mavromaras; Culturally inclusive learning for indigenous students in a learning management system / Neal Dreamson, Gary Thomas, Anita Lee Hong and Soyoung Kim; Best practice in supporting Indigenous students with disability in higher education / Michele Fleming and Diana Grace; The role of inherent requirement statements in Australian universities / Matt Brett, Andrew Harvey, Andrew Funston, Rachael Spicer and Adam Wood; Not there yet: an investigation into the participation of students from humanitarian refugee backgrounds in the Australian higher education system / Leslie Terry, Ryan Naylor, Nga Nguyen and Alberto Rizzo; Capability, belonging and equity in higher education: developing inclusive approaches / Penny Jane Burke, Anna Bennett, Cathy Burgess, Kim Gray and Erica Southgate; Exploring the experience of low-SES students via enabling pathways / Chad Habel, Kirsty Whitman and Jennifer Stokes; Supporting students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in higher education / Ceridwen Owen, Damhnat McCann, Christopher Rayner, Carol Devereaux, Fiona Sheehan and Lyndsay Quarmby; Moving beyond 'acts of faith': effective scholarships for equity students / Nadine Zacharias, Mary Kelly, Annette Cairnduff, Brenda Cherednichenko, Juliana Ryan, Kelly George, Smitha Mandre-Jackson, Linda Gasparini and Danny Sun; Access and barriers to online education for people with disabilities / Mike Kent. Show less

The objective of the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE) is to build the evidence base through research informing policy and practice. One of the ways we have achieved this is through the NCSEHE Research Grants Program which has funded 47 projects since 2014, with a total research expenditure of 1,945,733 Australian dollars. A further 15 projects will be undertaken in 2019/20. This publication reviews outcomes from the 2017/18 Research Grants Program funding round. The research priorities for this funding round were: analysis of the impact of changes in student financial support, graduate outcomes, equity implications of the increase in postgraduate education, and the impact of local communities on equity participation. The fourth in the Informing Policy and Practice series, the publication also incorporates Associate Professor Maria Raciti's 2018 NCSEHE Research Fellowship on the perceived risks of going to university for students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds.

Edited summary from publisher's website.

Chapters: Access, quality and wellbeing in engineering Work Integrated Learning placements: implications for equity and diversity / Natalie Lloyd, Megan Paull, Teena Clerke and Sally Male; Beyond graduation: long-term socioeconomic outcomes amongst equity students / Wojtek Tomaszewski, Francisco Perales, Ning Xiang and Matthias Kubler; Community influence on university aspirations: does it take a village...? / Jenny Gore, Leanne Fray, Sally Patfield and Jess Harris; Employment and study outcomes after graduation: an Australian higher education equity perspective / Ian W. Li and David R. Carroll; Equity at and beyond the boundary of Australian universities / Matt Brett, Naomi Tootell, Andrew Harvey, Buly A. Cardak and Peter Noonan; Equity in postgraduate education in Australia: widening participation or widening the gap? / Deanna Grant-Smith, Robyn Mayes and Renee Chapman; People seeking asylum: access and support in higher education / Lisa Hartley, Caroline Fleay, Sally Baker, Rachel Burke and Rebecca Field; Principles for equity in higher education performance funding / Andrew Harvey, Beni Cakitaki and Matthew Brett; Regional communities' influences on equity participation in higher education / Robin Katersky Barnes, Sue Kilpatrick, Jessica Woodroffe, Nicole Crawford, Sherridan Emery, Gemma Burns and Margaret Noble; Shifts in space and self: moving from community to university / Sarah O'Shea, Erica Southgate, Ann Jardine, Shamus Smith and Janine Delahunty; Structural inequality in higher education: creating institutional cultures that enable all students / Ryan Naylor and Nathan Mifsud; Success and failure in higher education on uneven playing fields / Bernadette Walker-Gibbs , Rola Ajjawi, Emma Rowe, Andrew Skourdoumbis, Matthew Krehl, Edward Thomas, Sarah O'Shea, Sue Bennett, Brandi Fox and Peter Alsen; Understanding completion rates of Indigenous higher education students from two regional universities: a cohort analysis / Fiona Shalley, James Smith, Denise Wood, Bronwyn Fredericks, Kim Robertson and Steven Larkin; NCSEHE Research Fellowship Report: career construction, future work and the perceived risks of going to university for young people from low SES backgrounds / Maria Raciti. Show less

This publication is part of a NCSEHE series identifying trends, issues, challenges and opportunities for student equity groups, informed by NCSEHE funded research. The research collated for this report adds to growing knowledge of the underlying reasons why students from low SES backgrounds struggle on access, participation and outcomes. Collective insights from the NCSEHE reports illustrate how compounding disadvantages limit students' ability to navigate the Australian higher education system as easily as their non-equity group peers.

Edited excerpts from publisher's website. Show less

The National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education's (NCSEHE) Facilitating an Innovation Future Through Equity Forum, held at the National Press Club in Canberra on 28 November 2016, brought together some of Australia's most prominent researchers, policy analysts and equity practitioners with the goal of advancing equity in higher education. This compendium to the Forum, Facilitating Student Equity in Higher Education, is a summary of relevant research to date. The compendium contains summaries lessons learnt from 24 NCSEFE funded research reports, three inaugural 2016 Equity Fellows' reports and 'Ten conversations', an initiative to develop dialogues to unravel complex and often multifaceted issues.

The lessons from NCSEHE research reports, which have been synthesised into the five areas of low socioeconomic status (SES), Indigenous, disability, scholarships, and graduate outcomes are: Issues and trends for low socioeconomic status background and first-in-family students / Ian Cunninghame, Diane Costello and Sue Trinidad; Indigenous students' higher education outcomes / Ian Cunninghame, Diane Costello, Sue Trinidad and Mike Dockery; Issues and trends for students with disability / Ian Cunninghame, Diane Costello and Sue Trinidad; Equity scholarship provision and impacts / Gail Whiteford and Sue Trinidad; Issues and trends in graduate outcomes in Australia / Paul Koshy and Sylvia Soltyk.

The three inaugural 2016 Equity Fellows reports are: The Australian student equity program and institutional change: paradigm shift or business as usual? / Nadine Zacharias; Opportunity through online learning: improving student access, participation and success in online higher education / Cathy Stone; Fair connection to professional careers: understanding social difference and disadvantage, institutional dynamics and technological opportunities / Erica Southgate.

The 'Ten conversations' are 25 years of equity in Australia; Students from low SES backgrounds; Students from regional and remote areas; Students with disability; Students from Indigenous backgrounds; Scholarships and support systems; Defining success; Evaluating performance of equity programs; Higher education data and equity policy; and Re-defining equity groups.

Edited excerpts from publication. Show less

The National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE) conducts an annual competitive research program, building a solid evidence base to improve access and outcomes for students from disadvantaged backgrounds in Australia. This publication features the 10 commissioned research reports from the 2016 research grants funding round, as well as three progressive projects from the inaugural NCSEHE Equity Fellows Program. These reports continue to highlight the importance of quality research in three aspects of improving equity in higher education: improving access and participation; developing effective partnerships; and informing policy and practice in equity issues and program development. The work is categorised into four broad areas: (1) enabling and transitional support; (2) supporting students from regional and remote areas; (3) supporting Indigenous students; and (4) perspectives on how equity students as a whole can be assisted.

Edited excerpts from publication. Show less

The number of students with disability in Australian higher education has increased rapidly in the last decade, but educational institutions are often finding it challenging to meet best practice. This is the first in a new series of evidence-based resources collating National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE) funded research to inform policy and practice and improve outcomes for equity students in Australian higher education. Recent research by the NCSEHE identifies the issues and challenges facing students with a disability. These relate to retention, success and outcomes, teaching and institutional cultures, and support policies and strategies. Recommendations are made for policy and strategy and for future research. The paper concludes that substantial progress has been made in access, retention and outcomes and, while a lot more remains to be done, the research points to future directions for better outcomes.

Edited excerpts from publication. Show less

The National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE) is building an evidence base to inform decision making in both equity policy and practice in Australian higher education and bridge the gap between the two. The NCSEHE Student Equity in Higher Education Research Grants Program and Equity Fellows Program are important aspects of this work. Since 2014, the NCSEHE Research Grants Program has funded 79 projects, across six rounds, with total expenditure of A$3,020,512. The Equity Fellowship program began in 2016. Since then, 12 Fellowships have been awarded to researchers and practitioners to conduct year-long studies into topics of emerging importance to equity in Australian higher education.

This publication summarises the latest instalments of these two programs over 2019–20. The 2019–20 Research Grants Program funding round focused on the following themes: (1) equity students and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM); (2) equity and mature-aged students; (3) digital inclusion and student equity; (4) study-life balance and student equity; (5) 'non-traditional' equity groups (i.e., groups other than low socioeconomic status [low SES]; Indigenous; disability; regional and remote; non-English speaking background [NESB]; women in non-traditional areas [WINTA]; or First-in-Family [FiF] students); and (6) housing and student equity.

Edited excerpt from publisher's website.

The chapters are: Open textbooks and social justice: a national scoping study / Sarah Lambert and Habiba Fadel; Career guidance for culturally and linguistically diverse migrants and/or refugees / Alexander Newman, Sally Baker, Clemence Due and Karen Dunwoodie; Supporting carers to succeed in Australian higher education / Lisa Andrewartha and Andrew Harvey; Understanding access to higher education amongst humanitarian migrants in Australia / Francisco Perales, Matthias Kubler, Ning Xiang and Wojtek Tomaszewski; STEM pathways: the impact of equity, motivation and prior achievement / Julie McMillan, Sheldon Rothman, Sarah Buckley and Daniel Edwards; Equity through complexity: inside the 'black box' of the Block Model / Jen Jackson, Kathy Tangalakis, Peter Hurley and Ian Solomonides; Australian universities and educational equity for student veterans / Ben Wadham, Melanie Takarangi, Andrew Harvey, Lisa Andrewartha, Brad West, Matthew Wyatt-Smith, Jodie Davis, Elaine Waddell and Ella Moeck.

Housing matters: understanding the housing experiences of undergraduate regional, rural and remote students living outside the family home / Julia Cook, Matthew Bunn, Penny Jane Burke, Hernan Cuervo, Stephanie Hardacre and Jace Blunden; Comfort with discomfort: exploring Wadjella educators' engagement with Indigenous students / Jonathan Bullen, Lynne Roberts, Cheryl Davis, Braden Hill, Tamara Lipscombe and Djandunmarra Cox; Exploring benefits and challenges of online work integrated learning for equity students / Amani Bell, Kathryn Bartimote, Lucy Mercer-Mapstone, Gulwanyang Moran, James Tognolini and Nora Dempsey; Investigating transitions to university from regional South Australian high schools / Sharron King, Cathy Stone and Chris Ronan; A novel approach to mapping changes in student attitudes towards science and mathematics in reaction to changes to their learning environment / John Paul Kennedy, Kate Thompson, Samuel Fowler and Simon N. Leonard; Calculating the costs of supporting people with disability in Australian higher education / Tim Pitman, Katie Ellis, Matt Brett, Elizabeth Knight and Darlene McLennan.

'Ghost student' failure among equity cohorts: towards understanding non-participating enrolments / Bret Stephenson, Beni Cakitaki and Michael Luckman; Higher education aspirations, participation, and achievement of Australian Indigenous males / James A. Smith, Himanshu Gupta, Sam Moore, Jesse Fleay, Garth Stahl, Bep Uink, Andrew Harvey, Peter Radoll, Braden Hill, Rebecca Bennett, Jahdai Vigona and Anthony Merlino; 'On the radar': supporting the mental wellbeing of mature-aged students in regional and remote Australia / Nicole Crawford; 'You going to uni?': exploring how people from regional, rural and remote areas navigate into and through higher education / Janine Delahunty; Supporting persons with disabilities to succeed in higher education / Tim Pitman; Indigenous students' journeys to and through allied healthcare programs / Andrea Simpson; Meaningful jobs for students with disability: from luck to business as usual / David Eckstein; Building a stronger evidence base to support effective outreach strategies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students: increasing impact and university participation / Katelyn Barney. Show less