Contents > 2. Teaching and Learning > 2.3 Support for equity objectives

2.3 Support for equity objectives

• Indigenous Support Funding Programme
• Higher Education Equity Programme
• Additional Support for Students with Disabilities Programme
• Enabling programme

Higher education institutions receiving support from the Commonwealth are responsible under the Higher Education Funding Act 1988 for ensuring equity of access. The Commonwealth monitors the achievement of equity objectives through the annual Educational Profiles process, for which institutions are required to provide an Indigenous Education Strategy and an Equity Strategy.

Indigenous Education Strategies

Indigenous education strategies outline the approach adopted by each institution to increase successful participation of Indigenous Australian students. In 2001, the Department published (on the Internet only) Indigenous Education Strategies of Higher Education Institutions for 2001 to 2003. Some common themes of these strategies are:

• greater efforts to build links with Indigenous communities, particularly those local to universities;

• greater promotion of higher education opportunities;

• links with the wider reconciliation agenda;

• tailoring of courses and course delivery to the needs of Indigenous people;

• efforts to make use of Indigenous community knowledge and preferred learning styles; and

• broader use of specific Indigenous recruitment and on-campus support strategies.

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Equity Strategies

Equity strategies highlight the approaches adopted by institutions in seeking to meet their equity objectives. While institutional approaches are diverse, some common themes include:

• enhanced use of articulation arrangements between vocational education and training and the higher education sector;

• localised institutional strategies to attract students from rural and isolated and low SES backgrounds to higher education;

• mentoring schemes to ensure that students from equity groups have the skills, confidence, networks and supportive environment to successfully complete their studies;

• the provision of flexible admission and support for students from an educationally disadvantaged background;

• scholarships, bursaries, loans and other assistance to those experiencing financial hardship; and

• outreach activities ranging from the provision of information kits, to liaison with schools, the provision of ‘taster’ programmes and the organisation of comprehensive on campus university experiences.

As well as monitoring the achievement of equity objectives, the Commonwealth provides a range of funding support to institutions.

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Indigenous Support Funding Programme

Base operating grants to higher education institutions include allocations from the Indigenous Support Funding Programme to meet the special needs of Indigenous Australian students and to advance the goals of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy (table 2.13). The kinds of activities which are supported through this Programme include the establishment of Indigenous Education/Support Units, assistance with study skills, personal counselling and cultural awareness activities. Funds are distributed among institutions using the formula:

• student participation (measured in Equivalent Full Time Student Units) – 50 per cent;
• student progress (weighted by student load) – 35 per cent; and
• number of award courses completed – 15 per cent.

There is a guarantee that funding for any institution in any year will not vary by more than 15 per cent of its allocation in the previous year to ensure certainty and stability of funding.

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Table 2.13: Indigenous Support Funding allocations, 2002 to 2004

(a) Funding allocations are based on objective statistical indicators of performance. The allocations shown for 2003 and 2004 are indicative only. Actual allocations for these years will be recalculated on the basis of later data as they become available.

(b) Allocations for Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education have been determined separately as part of an agreement to maintain a total funding package for this institution at 1998 levels.

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Higher Education Equity Programme

Commonwealth support aimed at improving the higher education participation of equity groups, other than Indigenous students, is provided through the Commonwealth’s Higher Education Equity Programme (HEEP). Institutions are responsible under the Higher Education Funding Act 1988 for ensuring equity of access to higher education. HEEP allocations are seed funding and are not intended to cover the full costs of institutions’ equity initiatives. In 2002, some $5.9million will assist institutions to provide appropriate programmes for:

• people from low SES backgrounds;

• people from rural/isolated areas;

• people with a disability;

• people from non-English-speaking backgrounds; and

• women in non-traditional areas.

There are four main elements to HEEP. The split of funds between these elements for 2002 is detailed in table 2.14.

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Table 2.14: Higher Education Equity Programme allocations, 2002

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In 2002, HEEP allocations include a base payment of $80 000 for each university (except the University of Notre Dame Australia and the Australian Maritime College) to contribute to the provision of an equity office and qualified staff. The remaining funds are distributed on the basis of the number of enrolled students in each equity target group and the academic success and retention of those students. These performance-related funds have been apportioned to reflect the Commonwealth’s current priorities as shown in table 2.15.

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Table 2.15: Proportion of performance funds for equity target groups

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HEEP also supports the national network of 10 Regional Disability Liaison Officers (RDLO). RDLOs improve access to tertiary education for students with disabilities by facilitating their transition from school to TAFE or university and from study to work. The success of the RDLO initiative has been built on by the announcement in the 2001–2002 Budget of a further 15 Regional Disability Co-ordination Officers, who will work with RDLOs to promote access to tertiary education by students with disabilities. There is $800 000 allocated for RDLOs in each of 2002, 2003 and 2004.

HEEP allocations in 2002 for each institution are given in table 2.16.

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Table 2.16: Higher Education Equity Programme allocations by institution, 2002

(a) The Australian Maritime College has been allocated $24 000 and the University of Notre Dame Australia has been allocated $20 000 under HEEP for 2002. These allocations are not derived using the funding formula applied to other institutions.

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Additional Support for Students with Disabilities Programme

From 2002 institutions will receive funding under the Additional Support for Students with Disabilities Programme. The programme was announced in the 2001 Budget and will provide funding of around $8 million over the next three years to institutions to support students with disabilities who have high cost support needs.

The programme recognises that while universities are responsible for the needs of students with disabilities, the provision of support for those relatively few students with high support needs is a significant and growing cost to universities. The new programme will enable institutions to decide how the funds can best assist students, including funding Braille translations, providing assistive technology, hiring Auslan interpreters or purchasing equipment.

The Department has commissioned work to establish a programme funding model, which distributes funds fairly, is administratively simple and encourages universities to find innovative but cost-effective ways to meet students’ needs. Data was collected from the sector on the actual costs associated with high-cost students with disabilities to enable the development of disability support funding categories.

As the data identified only relatively small numbers of students with disabilities who have high support costs, it did not enable the development a funding model based on categories of disability support for 2002. Initial allocations will instead be based on universities’ reported actual expenditure. Data collected during the programme’s operation in 2002 will then enable a review of the initial methodology.

Programme guidelines will be distributed to institutions in early 2002. Payments will be made to universities twice each year. The payments in each semester will be based on support provided by universities for the previous semester. The first payment will be made in late 2002, in respect of support provided in the first semester of that year. Funding available for 2002 totals $1.8 million.

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Enabling programme

The enabling programme is intended to provide a pathway to higher education for students from disadvantaged groups who do not have the academic preparation to enrol directly in award courses. A review of the programme in 2000 identified that the academic performance of enabling students was low, with only small numbers continuing to award courses. The Commonwealth has been consulting institutions on future directions for the programme with the aim of boosting student outcomes. Issues canvassed with institutions include:

• whether it would be better to widen access to all educationally disadvantaged people;

• whether HECS-exemption is warranted for all enabling students;

• whether a certificate of adult entry should be the focus of the programme;

• how elements of performance should be introduced into the funding methodology; and

• whether supplementary courses should be part of normal award load.

The Commonwealth will be reviewing its position following these consultations.

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