Indigenous Higher Education: The Role of Universities in Releasing the Potential

‘Taking your mob with you’: giving voice to the experiences of Indigenous Australian postgraduate students

“…Similarly, Andersen et al (2008) point to the essential role Indigenous units/centres play in supporting Indigenous students. Linked closely with the role of Indigenous units is the importance of culturally safe learning spaces and orientation processes for Indigenous students.…”

“…While there is a growing literature on Indigenous participation in higher education (e.g. Andersen, Bunda, & Walter, 2008;Devlin, 2009;DiGregrio, Farrington, & Page, 2000;Ellis, 2001;Morgan, 2001), with the exception of a few notable examples (e.g. Day, 2007;Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations, 1997;Trudgett, 2009;Weir, 2000), there is little known about the issues faced and effectiveness of support mechanisms for Indigenous Australian students undertaking postgraduate study.…”

Indigenous students' persistence in higher education in Australia: contextualising models of change from psychology to understand and aid students' practices at a cultural interface

“…Understanding Indigenous students at a cultural interface It is not surprising, in the light of Indigenous historical experience, cultural identity concerns, and even a cursory analysis of students' personal experience, that Indigenous efforts to improve the chances of Indigenous students' success have been largely focused on securing changes to institutional practices (e.g., Anderson, Bunda, & Walter, 2008). Nor is it surprising that in response to Indigenous students' experiences with academic content and the demands of academic convention that a primary Indigenous focus for change has also been on academic practice -changes to curricula, pedagogy and forms of assessment to reflect the presence of an ongoing Indigenous tradition and students' unfamiliarity with and/or resistance to the content and methods of the Western disciplines.…”

Student equity’s starring role in Australian higher education: not yet centre field

“…Women now outnumber men in terms of annual graduates, although there are still some disparities in favour of men in some disciplines and sub-disciplines, and also at postgraduate levels. And we are just starting to get our minds around the potential contributions of Indigenous peoples, although, as Andersen et al (2008) have noted, there is a long way to go on this front. But as a system we are less sure about what people from low SES and other backgrounds bring to higher education.…”