National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education

1. National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education Funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Hosted by the University of South Australia informing student equity policy and practice in Australian higher education

2. NCSEHE objectives: to produce research and researchers in the field of student equity in higher education to disseminate knowledgeabout student equity, to researchers, practitioners and policy makers in the higher education sector to facilitate discussion and debateon student equity matters among researchers, practitioners and policy makers to provide advice to practitioners and policy makers in the field

3. The stats Indigenous people currently constitute 2.2% of the Australian population and yet comprise only 1.3% of all university students. People from low socioeconomic backgrounds are three times less likely to enter university than those from high socioeconomic backgrounds. 25.4% of Australians live in rural and regional areas, but represent only 18.1% of university students

4. Current projects: An investigation of Australian universities’ interventions early in school to increase students’ later participation in higher education (funded by DEEWR). An inquiry into what influences regional and remote students’ participation in higher education (funded by the Thyne Reid Foundation). An online community and interactive access to quality resources (the Student Equity Exchange) for researchers, practitioners and policy makers in higher education (funded by DEEWR)

5. Interventions early in school as a means to improve higher education outcomes for disadvantaged (particularly low SES) students Part A: Literature Review

6. A collaborative effort rather than competitive effort • across the sectors: schools, tertiary institutions, non-government organisations, regional authorities, families and communities • involving all stakeholder groups in designing and delivering interventions • processes of reciprocal feedback

7. Early, long-term and sustained programs • studies of the development of human skills shows that early and continued support for children is likely to have the greatest long-term payoffs • programs that are designed to work with primary school children and then continue as they transition into the middle years and on into high school are ideal • the last two years of schooling are too late to maximise the effects of an intervention • By Year 11 academic achievement patterns are harder to turn around, aspirations are likely to be well established and students may have already selected or been counselled into subject selections and tracks that do not allow them access to the higher education trajectory they may have otherwise taken

8. People rich • ongoing relationships between young people and those in a position to offer them specific guidance that relates to their situation and capacities • programs that make a difference need to allow for ongoing conversations, advice and counselling rather than one-off events or products of a generic nature

9. Cohort based • Not ‘cherry picking’ nor ‘scatter gun’ but a targeted group • works to change peer cultures at the same time as it supports individuals • The cohort is exposed to the idea of university alongside their peers through a range of shared experiences

10. Getting out of deficit • low SES communities have assets that should be recognised and valued as assets (for example linguistic diversity, specific cultural knowledge, etc) • a portfolio of evidence which may be considered in the application process

11. National Centre forStudent Equity in Higher EducationUniversity of South AustraliaGPO Box 2471 AdelaideSouth Australia 5001AUSTRALIA Email: lalita.mchenry@unisa.edu.au Ph: +61 8 8302 4082; Fax: +61 8 8302 4848 www.unisa.edu.au/hawkeinstitute/ncsehe/default.asp