‘To achieve distinction in the education and professional development of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and non-Aboriginal peoples who will embrace and promote cultural diversity in the enrichment of all communities’

Objectives for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education:

• To enhance recruitment and participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in all disciplines, including improving and further streamlining admissions programs and pre-entry programs.

• To improve access and retention programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

• To deliver and further develop Aboriginal Studies as a teaching and research program.

• To contribute to the Aboriginalisation of other curricular areas and facilitate appropriate pedagogical practices in faculties to enhance learning.

• To increase opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff employment in all areas of the University.

• To broaden avenues through which Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders can be actively involved in decisions made by the University.

• To facilitate the professional development of, and to establish career paths for, all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff.

• To provide physical facilities and equipment commensurate with servicing teaching, research, student support, and staff accommodation needs.

• To facilitate change in the organisational culture of the University to meet the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff and students.

• To provide research outcomes on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education and improved academic outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

Strategies and Performance

The University of Wollongong remains mindful of the Goals of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy, recommendations by both the National Board of Employment, Education and Training and the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, and the New South Wales Aboriginal Education Policy (1996), and has perused other university strategies as published in the summary report, Higher Education Strategies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students, 1992–95, for innovative ideas. The strategies outlined below have been developed with the aim of ensuring Aboriginal participation in educational decision-making, equity in access to educational services, and in working towards equitable and appropriate educational outcomes.

1. Recruitment:

• The Aboriginal Education Centre (AEC) recruiting program for 1998 admissions did not cover as large a recruitment area as originally planned, but full use was made in this regard of DEETYA’s Wollongong Indigenous Education Unit’s programs under the Vocational and Educational Guidance for Aboriginals Scheme. A wider distribution of promotional material was put in place and the Koori Mail newspaper has, as in the past, shown to be a valuable tool for wide circulation. Recruitment was hampered by further fear among potential students about the availability of ABSTUDY, including the effects of changes regarding the introduction of the abatement rate and the higher age of independence, and also the uncertain future of the Aboriginal Tutorial Assistance Scheme (ATAS).

• The AEC will develop networks, both within and outside the University, to expand recruitment to include high schools, community organisations, and other agencies.

• Resources will be input to new marketing strategies/mechanisms using existing resources from the University and other organisational networks, and into developing promotional materials and a new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student handbook. The AEC will promote, through its marketing and community visits and through electronic and print media, the merits of the Centre and the advantages of studying at Wollongong for both undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Strategies to be evaluated through enrolment figures.

2. Aboriginal Education:

• Although pre-service training for teachers in Aboriginal Education/Aboriginal Studies has not yet become mandatory, the AEC has been involved in redeveloping Aboriginal Education subjects for offering in Arts and in the redeveloped Bachelor of Education program. There has been some reluctance by the Faculty of Education to build in Aboriginal-specific components to their subjects or courses without a direction to make them mandatory, but the necessity is recognised by some Faculty staff and AEC staff will continue to lobby and negotiate for fuller inclusion.

• An investigation of options for ongoing development of undergraduate to postgraduate Aboriginal Studies offerings will be carried out and redevelopment of Education subjects for the new Bachelor of Education program (including possible positioning of Education subjects into the Arts schedule under Aboriginal Studies) will continue.

Strategies to be evaluated through success in attracting students into subjects.

3. Aboriginal Studies:

• The Aboriginal Studies major commenced in 1998 and staff from the AEC have responsibility for coordination of the whole program and teaching of the core subjects. The major was developed and written by Aboriginal academics and systematic inclusion of decision-making by AEC personnel for the major has been a key component of the program in the Faculty of Arts, as has been consultation in the community and with the NSW AECG Inc. Arts has provided part-time teaching funding for the course and its potential to increase Wollongong’s attraction for Indigenous students should become apparent in the immediate years to follow.

• The Aboriginal Studies specialisation has led to increased involvement of Aboriginal academic staff in decision-making and this will be supported and continued. Ongoing consultation between the AEC and the Faculty of Arts will be facilitated regarding redevelopment of existing Arts subjects for inclusion in the elective stream of the Aboriginal Studies major.

• Aboriginal Studies will be used as a tool to enhance marketing and internationalisation of the University, as well as acting as a vehicle for increasing Aboriginal employment.

• The Aboriginal Studies program will be consolidated as an integral part of the University’s movement towards cross-faculty offerings and within its home Faculty (eg joint majors).

• There will be ongoing involvement in the development of the new South Coast network (Nowra campus development), including the entire Arts degree curriculum, and involving the Aboriginal Studies strand. This will include AEC participation in decision-making regarding future staffing at South Coast sites, as well as in community consultation.

• The AEC will continue to develop its Aboriginal Resource Collection in accordance with national protocols for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander libraries, archives, and resource networks.

Strategies to be evaluated through Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal student numbers completing subjects, entering joint majors, and enrolling at Nowra campus from 2000. It is expected that the new South Coast initiative, with the Nowra campus coming on line in 2000, will improve access, participation, and success.

4. Indigenous Health and Nursing:

• The AEC took over the setting up and running of an additional tutorial assistance program for Nursing students within the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, in the areas of Chemistry and Physics. This was facilitated by making use of a group tutorial program under ATAS. AEC academic staff were substantially utilised in a comprehensive review of the undergraduate and postgraduate subjects in the Indigenous Health Studies area for the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences.

• As a means of increasing access to University of Wollongong courses for Indigenous students, the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, in cooperation with the AEC, is developing a Graduate Certificate in Indigenous Health, to be offered by flexible learning modes which will be accessible to Indigenous health professionals from around Australia.

Strategies to be evaluated through success of Aboriginal students in Nursing subjects and through numbers of students taking up the postgraduate studies.

5. Curriculum, Pedagogy, Supervision:

• AEC staff continue to be involved in co-supervision of relevant postgraduate students’ projects and theses, but, although offered, were not utilised in provision of cross-cultural sensitisation workshops in any faculties in 1997. The University Education Committee have now picked up on the responsibility for developing culturally inclusive curriculum as part of an overall University strategy.

• The AEC will provide advice and participate in joint ventures with faculties and other departments in the development of culturally appropriate curricula and pedagogy.

• The AEC will develop Aboriginal protocols for pedagogy.

• There will be continued skilling of staff in flexible delivery modes and development of Arts staff to meet the needs of Aboriginal students.

• Ongoing evaluation through students’ responses to course offerings.

• 6. Retention Rates:

• A new initiative in 1998, involving one academic from the AEC and one from the Learning Development Centre, plus vital input from interested faculty representatives, has commenced, with the aim of developing strategies to improve retention, through a program intended to raise skill levels in new students who have entered through the Aboriginal Alternative Admissions Program. This has been funded by DEETYA for one year.

Strategy to be evaluated through retention rate indicators. Although the 1998 indicator shows a reduction in the retention rate, this is expected to rise steadily.

7. Aboriginal Involvement in Decision-Making:

• AEC staff will maintain and improve current involvement in University and Faculty decision-making processes through membership of various internal committees. These include: EEO & Affirmative Action Committee, Anti-Racism Working Party, Equity and Student Support Sub-Committee, Academic Senate, Human Research Ethics Committee, Academic Staff Development Committee, and Faculty of Arts committees such as: Faculty Education Committee, Board of Interdisciplinary Studies, South Coast Development Working Party, etc

8. Employment and Affirmative Action:

• The University has set up an EEO and Affirmative Action Committee, with Aboriginal representation, and has prioritised the development of Aboriginal employment strategies for 1999. This committee will add another dimension in the provision of a vehicle for increasing Aboriginal employment opportunities.

• The Career Development Unit will consult with the AEC on providing appropriate professional and career development programs for Aboriginal academic and general staff. The AEC will develop its own internal professional development and career path structures in accordance with its activities and needs.

Evaluation through development of a new University Indigenous Employment Strategy and through AEC staff development.

9. Research:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff and students will be encouraged to participate in research activity, including publication, and to utilise the work of the AEC as a basis for research and publication. This will include increasing the participation of AEC academic staff in Research Groups and Institutes and utilising Australian Research Council scholarships to mentor the development of Aboriginal researchers and in supporting/mentoring AEC staff to undertake research and higher degrees.

• Support for AEC staff will be offered in making better use of internal research processes, such as University Grants, Study Leave, etc

• AEC staff will continue to provide advice where relevant to the Human Research Ethics Committee.

Strategies to be evaluated through Indigenous staff involvement in research activity and publication.

Success and Retention Analysis

As outlined in the 1997 Strategy, the university faced a larger than normal withdrawal of Indigenous students from courses in Semester 1, 1997. The University of Wollongong has a relatively small enrolment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, and only a small number of withdrawals can make a large impact on the retention rate figures. This problem has been largely overcome due to the initiative outlined above under Strategies (6. Retention Rates) and future indicators should rise to at least the 1997 level. The retention indicator value for 1998 is 0.681. The success indicator has remained at a high level (0.92). This is above the national average and this is expected to continue through 1998 and into the future.

A total of twenty-four Indigenous students graduated from the University of Wollongong in 1997 with both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, and eleven graduated in Autumn Semester, 1998.

Contact Officers:

Professor Christine Ewan
Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic)
Telephone: 02 4221 3960
Facsimile: 02 4227 1771
Email: christine_ewan@uow.edu.au

 Mr Bill Harrison
Head, Aboriginal Education Centre
Telephone: 02 4221 4924
Facsimile: 02 4221 4244
Email: bill_harrison@uow.edu.au