Education is a fundamental requirement for all Australians to exercise their rights and participate fully in our society. This is equally true for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. However, the participation of Indigenous Australians in all forms of education, including higher education, is the lowest of any group in Australia. The need for redress has been recognised by the Commonwealth Government.

The Commonwealth and the State and Territory Governments joined together to endorse the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy in 1989. The policy set out 21 long-term goals for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education, grouped under four main headings: involvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in educational decision-making; equality of access to educational services; equity of educational participation; and equitable and appropriate educational outcomes. It also outlined roles for the Commonwealth, States and Territories, and education providers in implementation, including arrangements for monitoring and reporting.

The report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, in 1991, endorsed the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy and emphasised its importance. A link was drawn between the educational disadvantage of Indigenous Australians and their disproportionate representation in custody.

In 1993, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training, and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) decided to undertake a national review of the effectiveness of the National Policy. The resulting National Review of Education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples reported in 1994. It found that there had been considerable improvements in Indigenous people’s education and training participation and outcomes. However, it also found that these improvements were inconsistent across education sectors and States and Territories and that there are still huge gaps between educational outcomes for Indigenous Australians and those for non-Indigenous Australians. In 1995, in response to the report of the National Review, MCEETYA reaffirmed its commitment to the National Policy.

In 1998, the Commonwealth Minister for Education, Training and Youth Affairs, the Hon. Dr David Kemp, delivered a speech about ‘Educational Equality For Indigenous People: A National Priority’ to the Indigenous Education Strategic Initiatives Programme Strategic Results Projects National Workshop. In this speech, he affirmed the continuing commitment of the Commonwealth Government to the goal of ‘ensur[ing] that Indigenous Australians [are] educated to a standard equal with non-Indigenous Australians, and that they [are] able to take their place as equals in our community’.

The Commonwealth’s commitment to the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy is reflected in the number and range of Indigenous education funding programmes it provides. These include:

• the Indigenous Education Direct Assistance programme, which includes:

• the Aboriginal Student Support and Parent Awareness programme, for the school and preschool sectors;
• the Aboriginal Tutorial Assistance Scheme, for all levels of formal education; and
• the Vocational and Educational Guidance for Aboriginals Scheme;

• grants to education providers through:

• the Indigenous Education Strategic Initiatives Programme (IESIP), for preschools, schools, and vocational education and training institutions;
• specific funding arrangements for the vocational education and training sector; and
• the higher education Indigenous Support Funding programme; and

• ABSTUDY, which provides income support and related assistance to Indigenous students in secondary and tertiary education.

Indigenous Support Funding has been paid to universities since 1991 as part of the higher education institutions’ base funding. Since then, it has been a requirement for institutions to develop, each year, Indigenous education strategies. This publication contains the 1999–2001 strategies for the 38 higher education institutions receiving grants from the (higher education) Indigenous Support Funding programme.

Over recent years there have been solid improvements in the participation, success and retention rates of Indigenous Australians in higher education. This success is partly due to the many support programmes and committed staff who teach and administer the various Indigenous education strategies. Indigenous support units and liaison officers have made a tremendous contribution on behalf of their institutions. They have established good relationships with local Indigenous communities and have worked to meet the needs and aspirations of Indigenous people.

The continual growth in the number of Indigenous students graduating with degrees and postgraduate qualifications, confirms the importance and value of the Indigenous education strategies. Each institutional strategy document is a demonstration of the creativity and effort which has gone into the development of advances in Indigenous education. The mention of just a few examples illustrates the wide range of activities undertaken:

• Edith Cowan University has established a student assignment and assessment tracking base which is used to produce status reports on any student, thereby allowing early intervention to assist those falling behind in their studies;

• Griffith University encourages school students to consider higher education by hosting visits to the university from primary and secondary school students;

• Monash University hosts a Junior University Programme for Years 11 and 12 at its Gippsland Campus;

• Murdoch University runs a buddy/mentoring system for commencing students;

• the University of Wollongong arranges co-supervision of relevant postgraduate students’ projects and theses by support centre staff;

• Charles Sturt University’s ADEPT programme has facilitated Indigenous community involvement in higher education, including people in prison, and the development of employment opportunities for those completing the program;

• the University of South Australia provides external delivery of courses to remote communities; in particular its Anangu Tertiary Education Program (AnTEP), enables Anangu people in the far north of South Australia to access higher education within their own communities;

• James Cook University incorporates counselling, communication and community development units within its Bachelor of Indigenous Studies;

• RMIT University encourages Indigenous Australians enrolled in its vocational level studies to use these as a pathway to higher education;

• Central Queensland University has implemented an Indigenous Australia research management plan and established an Indigenous Australian research reference group;

• the University of Canberra has appointed a Ngunnawal Centre representative to the university’s Research and Ethics Committee;

• the University of Tasmania has marketed across the university a register of Indigenous Australian experts who are available as guest lecturers, tutors, consultants, and short-term appointments;

• the University of Sydney encourages the participation of Indigenous Australian elders and other community members in teaching and promotes an Indigenous Australian perspective across the university’s curricula;

• Deakin University customises degree offerings using a community-based mode of delivery which responds to the diverse academic needs of Indigenous Australian communities; and

• The University of New South Wales has negotiated with the NSW Law Society to establish cadetships with private law firms for its Indigenous Australian law students.

As well as describing the strategies they have implemented, some of the institutions refer to the factors outside their control which affect Indigenous participation, in particular their concerns about the possible effects of changes to the ABSTUDY programme announced in the 1997 Budget and the possibility of further changes. As can be seen from Figures 1 and 2, the 1997 Budget changes to ABSTUDY have had no impact on Indigenous participation. In 1998 Indigenous participation in higher education continued to increase, contrary to some of the concerns expressed in some of the strategy documents about changes to ABSTUDY.

In addition, demand for ABSTUDY in 1998 has increased over 1997 levels. Applications for ABSTUDY rose from 56 692 in 1997 to 57 985 in 1998. Demand for ABSTUDY by tertiary students has grown by over 5 per cent in 1999, with 16 265 applications to the end of March compared with 15 441 for the same period in 1998.

Figure 1 Numbers of Indigenous higher education students, 1987 to 1998

Figure 2 Indigenous higher education students as a percentage of non-overseas students, 1987 to 1998

Further changes to ABSTUDY have been announced since these institutional strategies were prepared, but these changes will not come into force until 1 January 2000. These changes do not represent any reduction in the Commonwealth’s total financial commitment to Indigenous education. Rather, they are intended to bring about a better targeting of funding to improve educational outcomes.

As a result of the changes, particularly the aligning of ABSTUDY payment rates and eligibility with the equivalent rates for people receiving the Youth Allowance or Newstart benefits, some Indigenous students may not receive as high a level of income support under ABSTUDY from 1 January 2000 as they received in 1998. By far the majority of Indigenous students, however, will be financially better off, or not worse off, under the new arrangements.

The changes mean that many Indigenous students will for the first time be eligible for benefits such as Rent Assistance, Pharmaceutical Allowance, and Remote Area Allowance, which have previously been payable under the Youth Allowance and AUSTUDY but not under ABSTUDY. Moreover, the living allowance for Indigenous students aged 21 years and over will be aligned with Newstart rates, which are higher than those for students in receipt of the Youth Allowance or AUSTUDY, in recognition of the disadvantages that many mature-aged Indigenous students face in participating in education.

In addition to living allowance support, ABSTUDY will continue to provide a range of supplementary benefits, not available to recipients of Youth Allowance or AUSTUDY, in recognition of particular disadvantages faced by Indigenous students. These benefits include fares and incidentals allowances and the Master’s and Doctorate award for students undertaking higher degrees.

A significant improvement will be a change in the treatment of the ABSTUDY ‘away-from-base’ allowance. Funds previously provided under the ABSTUDY programme for this allowance are to be transferred to IESIP. There have been some concerns about the restrictive nature of the existing away-from-base benefit. The new arrangement will increase flexibility by allowing education providers to determine the most cost-effective way to provide support to students and thus improve the delivery of ‘mixed-mode’ education. Senior officers of the Department are currently consulting with institutions in order to ensure a smooth transition from the old arrangements under ABSTUDY to the new ones under IESIP.

Readers interested in statistical information about Indigenous higher education students may wish to refer to Equity in Higher Education, a recent DETYA publication in the Higher Education Division’s Occasional Paper Series.

Higher Education Division

June 1999