The University’s Strategic Plan includes a clear commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 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 business and activities. This dedication represents the University’s commitment to the spirit of reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their cultures.

Objectives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education

to increase recruitment, retention, academic performance, and graduation rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at the University of Queensland, especially in degree programs in which there have been few or no Indigenous students;

• to promote understanding between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and other Australians;

• to facilitate international understanding between and about Indigenous peoples on the basis of the highest levels of scholarship in teaching and research concerning Indigenous peoples and cultures;

• to incorporate the world views and intellectual traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in University academic and administrative policies, programs and procedures;

• to nurture and assist in the expansion of the knowledge systems, world views and intellectual traditions of Indigenous peoples, encourage their recognition by the wider community, strive for their international recognition and secure their pivotal role in teaching and research concerning Indigenous cultures and to encourage its contribution to understanding and world knowledge.

The University of Queensland fulfils 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 Islander peoples. The University also promotes the responsibility for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 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 for working across the full range of faculties and departments to ensure that strategic objectives in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education are achieved. The Centre (a collaborative program with the Queensland University of Technology and with 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.

Strategies

Access

The University will continue its Alternative Entry procedures which allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 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 many Indigenous students will enrol at that campus rather than travel to the main St Lucia campus or to the distant Gatton campus. It is anticipated that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from the Ipswich catchment area will continue current trends by enrolling in the 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 Islander people in remote areas in particular.

The Bachelor of Applied Health Science (Indigenous Primary Health Care) will be offered in North Queensland from semester 2, 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 Islander students. The Centre is a leading example of this type of initiative. Through the collaborative arrangements, plans are under way 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.

The Unit has been planning and promoting a Continuing Education program in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies in collaboration with the University’s Institute for Continuing and TESOL [Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages] Education. In 1998 and 1999 the Unit will be delivering this program to three individual visiting overseas groups from Europe.

Participation

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 Islander students. New courses will be developed which expand the opportunities available and, with particular content presenting Indigenous perspectives, it will further enhance attractiveness to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. The Director of the Unit is the coordinator of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Studies Major/Double Major offered through the Faculty of Arts. The Unit teaches nine 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. In 1999 the Unit will also provide the teaching for 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 Islander perspectives and an active exploration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pedagogical practices, will provide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students with a substantial opportunity to gain a broad insight into their own cultures and subsequently assist in the strengthening of their identity. This sustained development of best practice in teaching of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 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 Islander community in planning research and then encouraging community participation in that research.

Retention

Outcomes will be achieved here through the close academic and personal support provided to students through the Unit. Having the Unit as the primary reference point for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students entering the University provides them with a stronger academic culture to assist them with engaging with the academic culture of the University and enhances their opportunity to achieve well in their study. Academic staff conduct individual tutoring support and arrange group support as needed. Additionally the Unit administers the Aboriginal Tutorial Assistance Scheme through its offices and this has been extremely beneficial for individual student achievement.

In 1997 the Unit carried out a research project which looked at alternative/appropriate assessment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. The results of this project will have a positive influence on future developments in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education, through an ability by the Unit more accurately to plan responses to changing patterns in student movement and achievement.

Improved Outcomes

The table below provides a picture of the highly effective outcomes of our education strategy.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student outcomes

* Indicator value: 1 = representation same as that of wider population

** 1998 = current figures plus 1997 success data

Structures

From 1998 the Unit reports to the University through the Executive Dean of Arts. This closer association with an academic faculty will provide greater opportunity to strengthen its teaching and research functions. The University’s Vice-Chancellor’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy Advisory Committee membership is an all-Indigenous group of individuals from across Queensland with particular expertise in education. This committee will continue to provide advice to the University on all educational matters in particular but will also comment on other university issues that are vital to the cultural integrity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their communities.

Evaluation

In 1996 the Unit carried out an internal review of the University’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and past records of students to determine a comprehensive understanding of patterns from the earliest known enrolment of an Indigenous student at the University. This review established a database from which statistical understanding of study patterns and outcomes can be readily determined. This database will be updated at yearly and half-yearly intervals and provides an important instrument for assessing trends. The initial review revealed that all significant benchmarks (retention, graduation, period of time taken to complete a degree, etc) were showing a positive and steady improvement (as reflected in the above table). Subsequent student movement has maintained this positive trend.

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