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Media Release
A VOICE FOR INDIGENOUS HIGHER EDUCATION
5 August, 2004 MIN 841/03
From today Indigenous Australian students, teachers and academics in higher education will have a new voice following the creation of the Indigenous Higher Education Advisory Council.
The new Advisory Council, funded with $272,000 per year from the Australian Government, will consist of 16 members with expertise in and understanding of the higher education sector.
The Advisory Council was announced last year as part of the $2.6 billion higher education reform package, Our Universities: Backing Australia’s Future. The Council will provide policy advice to improve outcomes in higher education for Indigenous students and staff relating to their participation, progression and retention both in study and employment. Specifically, the Council will:
- make recommendations to the Minister for awards under the Indigenous Staff Scholarships programme;
- develop strategies for increasing the number of Indigenous staff employed in higher education institutions; and
- convene an annual Indigenous Higher Education Conference which will include discussion of research developments and policy directions, sector/institutional achievements, successful innovations and best practice measures; and presentation of the Indigenous Staff Scholarships worth around $30,000 each, and the Neville Bonner Memorial Scholarship worth $18,000.
Professor Marcia Langton, one of Australia’s leading authorities on contemporary social issues in Indigenous affairs, will be the Chair of the new Council.
Appointed as the Inaugural Professor of Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne in 2000, Professor Langton is a Fellow of the Social Sciences in Australia and has been appointed to the Australian Vice Chancellors’ Committee on Indigenous Higher Education. She was also recently appointed as Chair of the Cape York Institute.
I especially thank the National Tertiary Education Union for its advocacy for the Indigenous Higher Education Advisory Council and its constructive contribution to its implementation.
Media Contacts:
Dr Nelson’s Office: Ross Hampton 0419 484 095
Dept of Education, Science & Training: Virginia Cook 0412 971 323
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