Higher Education Access and Equity for Low SES School Leavers

A case study

98/18

Eleanor Ramsay
Deborah Trantor
Simon Charlton
Robert Summer

University of South Australia

October 1998

Evaluations and Investigations Programme Higher Education Division Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs

© Commonwealth of Australia 1998
ISBN 0 642 23855 3

This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without permission from AusInfo. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the Manager, Legislative Services, AusInfo, GPO Box 84, Canberra ACT 2601.

This report is funded under the Evaluation and Investigations Programme of the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs.

The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs.

Executive Summary & Recommendations

Since its establishment, the University of South Australia has implemented a range of strategies aimed at increasing access and participation of people in the six targeted equity groups identified by the Commonwealth. Despite this, there has been little increase in the participation rates of Low SES people. The University's Special Access Scheme, or USANET, was thus developed. The scheme was designed to address the particular needs of students whose individual educational disadvantage, arising from their Low SES status, is compounded by attendance at schools with significant numbers of students from similar backgrounds. In 1998, the University expanded the scheme to widen the opportunities for students from isolated country schools. The scheme incorporates three components: outreach, access and support.

The need to investigate trends in Australian higher education institutional access and equity policies in the context of a mass higher education system, including trends in criteria for entry to higher education and the implications of these on institutional structures, as well as teaching approaches and standards, has been identified. The research project was designed to investigate the features of the USANET special access scheme and those of similar schemes in other Australian universities in order to identify the factors and structural changes that will result in maximising the access, participation, success and retention of Low SES students.

The research team undertook an analysis of available data on USANET scheme students, i.e. both the group whose entrance score had been adjusted, the USANET bonus group, and those USANET applicants who gained entry to their preferred course without the addition of bonus points, the USANET non-bonus group. In addition, a survey of all USANET students, students from USANET schools but who had not applied through USANET, and a control sample of other school leaver entrants to the University was conducted to collect more detailed information about the experiences of these students. Further qualitative information was obtained from University and secondary school staff by interview. A comparative analysis of similar programs at other universities was also undertaken.

With the targeting of schools under the USANET scheme, it appears that an increasing proportion of applicants from these schools are enrolling at the University of South Australia. In 1996 and 1998, females were more highly represented in both the USANET bonus and non-bonus groups than in the other school leaver group of students, while the reverse was true in 1997. Compared with other school leavers, the two USANET groups tend to be older, more likely to be studying full time and much more likely to be from Low SES and non-English speaking backgrounds. No USANET students to date have been Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, a reflection of the very low number of indigenous students

completing Year 12 in South Australia. The expansion of the scheme in 1998 has seen a substantial increase in the proportion of rural and isolated USANET students.

It appears that the impact of the changes to HECS may have been greater than early findings have so far revealed. Both bonus and non-bonus USANET students were found to be more likely to be dependent on AUSTUDY, living alone or in rental accommodation and speak a language other than English at home (usually Vietnamese), indicating a greater degree of social and economic disadvantage than the control group.

Future employment prospects, immediate family members and the location of university campuses are important factors influencing decisions to enrol at university. Concerns regarding the adequacy of preparation for university, accessing computer facilities, financial difficulties encountered in studying full time and difficulties combining work and study have been expressed. Staff are approachable and university is enjoyable. The USANET groups indicate generally low levels of family support, difficulties in making friends and difficulties with family and work commitments.

Experiences of the University's student support systems are largely positive, with high levels of awareness, usage and satisfaction with the library, computer facilities and cafeteria, particularly. Low levels of awareness of and satisfaction with specialist USANET support programs are a concern, together with reported poor access to the University's student loans scheme and computer services, and concerns regarding the quality of the student loans and student employment services.

USANET students tend to be less successful but nevertheless persist in their studies at a comparatively higher rate than other groups of commencing students. This result suggests a high level of motivation amongst the USANET students. Clearly, the USANET scheme is having a positive impact and has been successful in terms of its objectives.

All three components of the USANET scheme are perceived as important and that it is, in fact, the combination of outreach, access and support which makes the scheme effective. However, there is still work to be done to improve the scheme and to improve its effectiveness as a means to enhance access to and success at university by students from Low SES backgrounds. While the addition of all isolated schools to the list of targeted schools will improve the scheme's effectiveness for isolated students, a group that overlaps substantially with Low SES students, a further expansion of the program to other urban disadvantaged schools may be warranted. The expansion of isolated schools will also exacerbate the need to address better the particular needs of rural and isolated students within the program, including special consideration of those students who study distance education subjects in
Year 12.

Indicators of good practice in outreach identified in similar schemes to USANET are that, for outreach to be successful, a long term relationship between the university and schools needs to be developed. This cannot be achieved during the second half of Year 12 alone. Cultural barriers exist in some disadvantaged schools that prevent students from having equitable access to university entrance. Secondary school staff interviewed were very positive about the USANET scheme and indicated that it had already been successful in fostering longer term cultural change within schools and in motivating students to consider and apply for university entrance.

In order to further reduce the impact of cultural barriers, longer term contact is essential, through a series of outreach actions over the course of a secondary student's career, commencing in Year 8 and continuing to Year 12. School-based advice is critical to creating a continuity of outreach within a familiar environment. School staff should be able to provide a first port of call for information with easy referral to the program's coordinator if the need arises. School staff should also be able to provide assistance to students applying to the program, again with easy access to the program's coordinator as necessary.

Support components exist in two key areas; transition to university and ongoing support. It would appear that transition is a critical phase of concentrated risk and student support must focus on this. Ongoing support is also important for Low SES and isolated students, for whom external support mechanisms (networks, family and financial) may not exist, placing these students in a more vulnerable position in relation to both internal (university) and external pressures. Such support services need to be available and promoted to the targeted groups.

This study has identified a range of issues which require attention if the University and the sector more generally are to further enhance access, participation and success rates of students from Low SES and rural and isolated backgrounds.

• Outreach programs targeting Low SES school students should extend from junior secondary school levels to Year 12.

• Given the considerable overlap between the indicators of disadvantage for Low SES students, and for isolated students, both groups should be specifically targeted during their secondary school years to increase the access to higher education of school leavers in these two equity groups.

• Support for Low SES and isolated students to improve their retention and success at university needs to be designed to address the specific and different issues faced by these two groups.

• Distance education and open access studies undertaken by rural and isolated students, particularly those in Year 12, should be supported in a way which acknowledges the additional educational difficulties these students experience.

• Programs targeting increased access, participation and success for specified groups of students need to be monitored and evaluated on a regular basis with respect to their effectiveness in making both short term improvements and longer term changes to the equity performance indicators for these groups.

• Further research should be undertaken to assess the longer term impact of such programs on student attitudes towards higher education within the targeted schools, including application rates and course preferences.

• Given the range of programs specifically targeting Low SES school leavers, collaborative arrangements between these should be considered as a means of enhancing their overall effectiveness and impact, with DEETYA facilitating an initial meeting between relevant institutions.

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