| James Cook University Objectives for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
education
During the past 18 months, staff at James Cook
University have had to cope with high levels of change as a result of an extended
restructuring process. The new Vice-Chancellor took up his position at the end of 1997,
and has recently engaged in prolonged consultations with staff on both the Townsville and
Cairns campuses to develop a vision statement which reflects both the current position of
the university and its preferred future directions. The draft document, entitled
JCU:
Into the Third Millennium, is intended to provide a framework which will stimulate and
guide future planning within the university.
JCU has articulated its commitment to Indigenous
education in its objectives, with Indigenous Australian students being specifically
included in several sections of the draft document. For example, in the introduction to
the section on Defining Characteristics, there is a focus on the importance of the
university’s location within north Queensland, and quantitative population data is
used to make explicit reasons why JCU must address the higher education needs of
Indigenous Australians. In addition, it is stated within this section, that:
Being located in the midst of Australia’s
largest Indigenous population, the university has a relatively high proportion of
Indigenous students and is particularly alert to the need to enhance cultural and
intellectual understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia.
Within the section on Guiding Principles, JCU ‘recognises
and welcomes, in particular, the Indigenous students of the region’, while one of
the core beliefs and goals states that the university recognises ‘a special
responsibility to the remote, rural and Indigenous communities of our region, and will
continue to develop approaches to teaching, research and course delivery that meet and
support the special needs of those communities’.
The high rate of participation of Indigenous
Australian students at JCU is also viewed as a particular advantage in terms of our market
strength. Finally, in defining desired graduate outcomes, JCU will seek to foster in all
graduates ‘[a]n understanding of Indigenous issues and history as they relate to
specific disciplines’.
In order to ensure effective future planning in
terms of increasing retention and success rates for Indigenous Australians students at
JCU, in 1998 the Vice-Chancellor has requested that the School of Indigenous Australian
Studies (SIAS) conduct a review of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education across
JCU. Staff of SIAS report an overwhelming response (from all levels of staff, and
students) to requests for volunteers to participate in this activity. In addition, all
Executive Deans have been interviewed and all have indicated they will actively support
collaboration with SIAS, especially in relation to the development of interdisciplinary
courses. A number of deans also raised the issue of compulsory Indigenous Studies across
all discipline areas.
Strategies and performance
| Expected Outcome |
Strategy to achieve outcome |
Performance Indicators |
| Continuation of innovative teaching
programs. |
Continue support for and development of
the Remote Area Teacher Education Program (RATEP). |
Evaluations of quality of graduates by
employers and teaching profession. |
| Continuing strong connections with
TAFE. |
Maintain existing partnership with TAFE
and the Queensland Department of Education in relation to RATEP. |
The School of Education has produced
one quarter of all tertiary Indigenous graduates in Queensland. |
| Increased number of JCU courses which
have a specific focus on the identified higher education needs of Indigenous Australian
students. |
Continue to support programs which have
a specific Indigenous focus, which have been developed and continue to be offered in
various schools. |
On-going enrolments in specific
programs that have been identified in the School of Social Work and Community Welfare;
School of Anthropology and Archaeology; School of Education; School of Public Health and
Tropical Medicine, and School of Nursing. High employment levels of graduates indicate
success of these programs. |
| Increased number of JCU courses which
contain Indigenous perspectives. |
SIAS staff will continue to participate
as members of curriculum development and review teams across all discipline areas, eg
Bachelor of Nursing. Maintain current high level of
Indigenous input into the curriculum development process for the proposed JCU Medical
School. |
Increased interaction between
Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff—increased feedback regarding on-going development
of more inclusive polices and practices. |
| Improved quality of educational policy,
practices, and debates relevant to needs of Indigenous Australian students, throughout the
university. |
Formal and informal liaison between the
SIAS and all faculties—greater involvement at the school level. SIAS staff and/or Indigenous Australian students organise/conduct range of
academic and cultural activities on regular basis—raise profile of Indigenous
Australian education within university/communities. |
Increased attendance at various SIAS
activities designed to raise the level of academic debate regarding Indigenous Australian
issues. |
| To stimulate and facilitate new
teaching programs which respond to identified needs of Indigenous Australian peoples. |
Develop new subjects to provide
additional strands within existing Bachelor of Indigenous Studies (BIS)—Counselling,
Communication, and Community Development—and complete subject development for the
Postgraduate Diploma in Indigenous Studies (Indigenous Research Ethics). |
Increased enrolments by Indigenous and
non-Indigenous Australian students in SIAS courses across all levels—tertiary access,
undergraduate and postgraduate. BIS (Torres Strait Studies) enrolled first students in
1998. There has been considerable level of inquiry for an Aboriginal Studies strand. |
| To respond to the identified needs of
Indigenous students in various community locations including Yarrabah, the Gulf, Torres
Strait, Cape York, and Lotus Glen. |
Convert all Tertiary Access 2 core
subjects, the BIS core subjects, and the postgraduate. Research Ethics subjects into
flexible delivery mode by the end of 1998. |
|
| To raise the profile of the research
unit within SIAS. |
Employ Indigenous Australian staff who
have the necessary academic qualifications to engage in high level research which focuses
on Indigenous Australian issues. |
Increased involvement in research
projects by SIAS staff and Indigenous Australian students. |
| To increase the involvement of
Indigenous Australian staff in Indigenous research projects. |
Provide opportunities for Indigenous
Australian staff to acquire knowledge and understanding of Indigenous research
methodologies and ethics. |
Increased enrolments of Indigenous
students in postgraduate studies through SIAS. |
| To develop a postgraduate research unit
at JCU to increase the number of Indigenous people taking postgraduate research degrees. |
Seek funding for Indigenous
postgraduate Research Scholars. |
Gradual increase in the number of
Indigenous postgraduate research students enrolled in Masters and PhD programs. |
| To increase Indigenous Australian
participation rates at JCU. |
Structured recruitment program
conducted in 1998 throughout our vast catchment area. Combined with community education
program. |
Increased participation from 1999
onwards. |
| To increase retention and success
rates. |
The current review of JCU has enabled
SIAS to establish links with all other faculties. This is a first step in increasing the
level of inter-faculty liaison to raise the overall level of support relevant to the needs
of Indigenous Australian students in all discipline areas. Develop
focus areas for community education program |
Gradual increase in retention and
success rates from 1999 onwards. Families will develop
increased understanding of ways they can most effectively support their students
undertaking higher education studies. |
Additional ways in which the University
demonstrates its commitment to Indigenous education
Indigenous staff employed at JCU perceive the
university has demonstrated a growing commitment to higher education for its Indigenous
Australian students during the past twelve months. For example:
The academic status of the previous Centre for
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Participation, Research and Development (CATSIPRD)
was upgraded in February this year when the University Council approved the creation of
the School of Indigenous Australian Studies (SIAS).
External consultants were invited to review the
previous Centre Management Advisory Committee which had ceased to exist due to the expiry
of the terms of office of most members at the end of 1996. In line with the
recommendations made by the Aboriginal consultants who conducted the review, the process
to establish the new Indigenous Australian Reference Group, an advisory body to the
Vice-Chancellor, has been implemented.
Academic staff across the University elected
the Head of SIAS as one of the academic representatives on the University Council. This
means there are now two Indigenous Australian members of the Council.
The members of the University Council have
since elected the Head of the SIAS to the Finance Committee of the University Council.
Strong support from University staff for a
workshop conducted by the SIAS in February 1998. This workshop was held to enable staff to
meet with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from a range of remote and rural
communities across northern Queensland, to identify needs in relation to the relevance of
existing courses and future course development.
Increasing level of demand from staff in
various other disciplines across the University to meet with SIAS staff to commence a
consultative process which focuses on the way in which we could ensure more inclusive
practices are being implemented in other schools.
There is a high level of interest from staff in
our new subject offering within our Bachelor of Indigenous Studies. This is an
experiential unit and a number of staff from other areas have demonstrated their interest
in the concept by recommending students in their degree programs enrol in this subject as
an elective.
The Aboriginal Employment Strategy has been
successfully implemented within SIAS. Two other faculties are currently negotiating for
the next stage.
Continuation and expansion of pre-tertiary and
undergraduate courses and postgraduate certificates.
The Aboriginal Tutorial Assistance Scheme staff
has coped with 2 audits this year—the DEETYA Compliance Audit earlier this year
followed by a recent Internal Audit. While there were some minor administrative details to
attend to, the auditors have all expressed their satisfaction with the administration of
the program.
John Chesterman takes up his role as a
postgraduate Research Fellow in SIAS in August. His field is Aboriginal Activism and we
look forward to working with him. This is a first for SIAS.
SIAS recently hosted a visiting Sami Academic
from Sweden who thoroughly enjoyed meeting some of Australia’s Indigenous peoples.
Contact Officer
Associate Professor Jeannie Herbert
Head of School
School of Indigenous Australian Studies
James Cook University, Townsville QLD 4811
Telephone: 07 4781 4386
Facsimile: 07 4781 4033
Email: Jeannie.Herbert@jcu.edu.au |