Indigenous Education Strategies of Higher Education 2001

The University 's Strategic Plan includes a clear commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Education. Among its Teaching and Learning strategic objectives it will "provide enhanced opportunities for minority and disadvantaged groups". The Teaching and Learning operational priorities endeavour to "increase the participation rate for socioeconomically disadvantaged students and disadvantaged minority groups" and to provide students with "opportunities to accelerate progress of their studies through summer schools and recognition of prior learning ".

In June 1998 the Vice-Chancellor formally announced the dedication by the University of an area of land on the St Lucia campus for the use of Indigenous students, staff and their communities to conduct Indigenous cultural and ceremonial business and other activities. This dedication represents the University's commitment to the spirit of Reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples and their cultures.

Objectives

The University of Queensland fulfills the four main goals of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy (NATSIEP) through the operation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit (the Unit), the Centre for Indigenous Health, Education and Research (the Centre) and the Indigenous Health Program (IHP). The specific activities of the Unit, the Centre and the IHP have as their core objectives the improved access to, participation in and graduation from tertiary education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples. The University also promotes the responsibility for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Education across all levels of its academic and administrative programs.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit is responsible for the broader aspects of the University of Queensland's Indigenous Education Strategy. It has responsibility to work across the full range of faculties and departments to ensure that strategic objectives in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Education are achieved. The Centre (a collaborative program with the Queensland University of Technology and Public Health, North Queensland Clinical School) provides opportunities for improved access to remote areas and diversification of offerings. The Indigenous Health Program [formerly the Indigenous Primary Health Care Unit] continues to offer the Bachelor of Applied Health Science (Indigenous Primary Health Care) and is a successful program that meets all the objectives of the NATSIEP.

Consultative Mechanisms

The University has a committee to advise the Vice-Chancellor on policy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island education. The Vice-Chancellor’s Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy is an all-Indigenous body which has broad regional representation across Queensland. It also seeks, through its membership, to ensure that there is a range of experience in education and general Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Affairs. The chair of the committee has wide experience in Australia and overseas in teaching at school, college and university level as well as management and planning at senior executive level in government.

The University’s Indigenous Health Program and Centre for Indigenous Health, Education and Research have advisory committees which have strong representation from the Indigenous community. The programs offered within this program and centre have students and staff interacting with Indigenous community and communities as part of their assessment project profile.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit teaches subjects in and manages the development of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Studies major/double major offered through the Bachelor of Arts degree. The Indigenous community is heavily involved through guest lectures and cultural presentations in these subjects.

Current and Continuing Activities

The University will continue its Alternative Entry procedures which allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people to gain entry to programs of study through means other than direct entry by achievement of a set entry score from secondary schooling. The new campus at Ipswich is located in a high Indigenous population area and it is expected that Indigenous students will enrol at that campus rather than travel to the main St Lucia campus or to the more distant Gatton campus. It is anticipated that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people from the Ipswich catchment area will continue current trends by enrolling in a wide range of degree programs that are available. It is expected that flexible delivery modes for some degrees will be attractive to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people in remote areas in particular.

The Bachelor of Applied Health Science (Indigenous Primary Health Care) has been offered in North Queensland from semester two 1998, with Centre staff being based in Cairns and the Torres Strait. With the Brisbane-based intake continuing to attract anticipated numbers this will almost double the intake into this well-received degree program. The Centre will also formalise arrangements with communities to assist in the identification and implementation of education, research and training needs.

Through an active process of collaboration with other institutions the University will also expand its attraction for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island students. The Centre is a leading example of this type of initiative. Through the collaborative arrangements, plans are underway for curriculum development and modification to enable a wider range of courses to be offered through the Centre. The initial focus will be on nursing, with a number of other programs in the area of public health being explored. Negotiations in relation to articulation between courses and institutional cross- crediting are also taking place.

Recruitment drives will continue to identify the University of Queensland as a preferred place of study with students recognising the quality education available through its academic programs. Some staff of the Unit are trained to represent the University as recruitment officers and participate in the general University recruitment drives across Queensland and in northern New South Wales.

Promotion and awareness raising is a crucial component of the University's strategies to improve access. Senior staff in the Unit, Centre and IHP will continue their responsibilities on key national bodies (Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation) where they bring national recognition to themselves and the University's programs.

Curriculum development and review offers opportunity to make subject offerings more attractive to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island students. New courses will be developed which expand the opportunities available and, with particular content presenting Indigenous perspectives, will further enhance their attractiveness to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island students.

The Director of the Unit is the coordinator of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Studies Major/Double Major offered through the BA. The Unit teaches eleven interdisciplinary subjects within that Major, including two Independent Studies subjects, a subject on ethics and protocol in research with Indigenous peoples, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Women and a subject entirely devoted to Torres Strait Island Studies. Beginning in 1999 the Unit now also teaches two subjects in Black Australian Literature already well established in the offerings of the Department of English.

These subjects, along with concerted delivery of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Perspectives and an active exploration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island pedagogical practices, will provide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island students with a substantial opportunity to gain a broad insight into their own cultures and subsequently assist in the strengthening of their identity. This program is also of great benefit to non-Indigenous students and contributes to the University’s cross-cultural awareness program. This sustained development of best practice in teaching of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Studies is also being included in the Unit's ongoing promotion of the Indigenous Education Strategy as it collaborates with faculties and departments. The University will further pursue cross-credit arrangements with other institutions. This provides greater flexibility and choice for students and improves their chances for success.

Through an active research program within the Unit, the Centre and the IHP, the University will further build and formalise links with Indigenous communities. Students and staff conduct their research projects under strict guidelines of the University's Ethics Committee and also through involving the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island community in planning research and then encouraging community participation in that research.

Planned New Activities

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit has developed a strong student support, teaching and research program. The Unit reviews its activities regularly and is presently planning a project which will endeavour to determine the aspirations that Indigenous people have with regard to post-compulsory schooling education. This project will provide a further strategy that enhances the present process of taking established programs in tertiary study out to the community. This project will contribute to the aspirations of the Indigenous Health Program and the Centre for Indigenous Health, Education and Research.

The University will continue to investigate ways that it can attract Indigenous students to its programs offered at its Ipswich campus. The Unit has begun a research program that is looking closely, in collaboration with the Indigenous community from the feeder areas around Ipswich campus, at the aspirations of Indigenous people regarding post-compulsory education. This is being well received by the Indigenous community and there are plans for continued research which will enhance the present program as well as foster community led research in the region. In addition, the University’s established presence in Cairns and the Torres Strait region, through the expansion of its successful Indigenous Health Program and growth of the Centre for Indigenous Health, Education and Research, presents opportunities to explore further educational opportunities for Indigenous people. The Indigenous Health Program has also established a survey process in the North Queensland region that determines the aspirations of Indigenous people regarding needs in post-compulsory education.

Performance and Review

The University, through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit, the Indigenous Health Program and the Centre for Indigenous Health, Education and Research, continues to monitor its performance.

At the end of 1998 the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit conducted its annual selection of Indigenous students under a changed format. Observation of past years led to the Unit recommending to the University that it discontinue its association with the Centralised Assessment and Selection Program that it had participated in with Queensland University of Technology, Griffith University and the Australian Catholic University [McAuley Campus] to select students.

This new approach has proved to be successful and the intakes for 1999 and 2000 have shown consistency and some improvement. The strategy used is similar in every way to past years with the exception that applicants were not invited to attend the University for an interview. Rather, all applicants are contacted by telephone very shortly after their applications are lodged with QTAC. Unit staff continue their dialogue with applicants over several telephone calls and arranged for portfolios to be sent in by applicants and scrutinised by Unit and faculty staff. The intake from this exercise in 1999 was an approximate 35% to 40% improvement on the previous year’s intake, under the combined program, with the exact same number of applicants placing the University of Queensland as their first preference on their QTAC form. In the year 2000 the same procedures were used but the intake was not as dramatic with a modest increase on the years prior to 1999. It is believed that early interaction with applicants and the fact that staff also speak with other family members in establishing contact with applicants enhances this selection process.

The success of the process detailed above provides an encouraging format for developing further strategies that will attract a larger number of adult entry students now that it is apparent that school leavers are quite well placed in terms of negotiating entry to tertiary study.

The detail below, while showing the fluctuation over 1999 and 2000, still indicates that the University enjoys a good retention and graduation rate for Indigenous students. It is anticipated that future years will see a continuation of the established trend of steady growth in intake and retention.

* Values expressed as an equity indicator. A value of ‘1’ represents a rate equal to that expected for the wider population. Rates have been calculated using DETYPAC Equity Performance Indicators software.

Year	Commencing EFTSU	Total EFTSU
1996	43	128
1997	56	145
1998	60	157
1999	77	185
2000	70	172
2001	80	190
2002	80	200
2003	80	210

Report on Expenditure

The Indigenous Support Funding Grant to the University of Queensland for 2000 was $714,000 and the budget allocation from the University to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit for 2000, was $714,000. In addition to the University allocation, the Unit gains further internal income from its teaching and its research performance. This is directed towards supporting research and related activities that enhance the profile of the Unit as a provider of both academic programs and student support. The Unit receives a one-line budget which is negotiated and approved according to the established needs of the Unit which allow it to carry out its various functions that all contribute to support for Indigenous students and fulfils the four main goals of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy.

The Unit’s activities provide student support to Indigenous students throughout the University. This support is provided through direct academic and personal advice and counselling, including support to students from the Indigenous Health Program and the Centre for Indigenous Health, Education and Research (alongside support provided from staff of that program and centre). In addition, support to students is provided through a model of Indigenous education based on the example set by staff (particularly Indigenous staff) teaching subjects that give both an Indigenous perspective and mainstream disciplinary perspective to themselves and mainstream and overseas students. The same model applies whereby the research activities of staff provide an opportunity for Indigenous students and graduates to develop their research skills in a supportive academic environment.

Contact

Michael Williams
Director
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit
Gordon Greenwood Building
The University of Queensland
Brisbane 4072
Tel: (07) 3365 6733
Fax: (07) 3365 6855
Email: michael.williams@mailbox.uq.edu.au

Associate Professor Cindy Shannon
Acting Director
Centre for Indigenous Health: Education and Research
Edith Cavell Building
Royal Brisbane Hospital
The University of Queensland
Herston Qld 4006
Tel: (07) 3365 5529
Fax: (07) 3365 5550
Email: c.shannon@mailbox.uq.edu.au

Indigenous Education Strategies in Higher Education 2001-2003