Equity Policy in Australian Higher Education: A Case of Policy Stasis

2005 ◽  
pp. 227-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard James ◽  
Craig McInnis
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Equity Policy

scholarly journals On ‘being first’: the case for first-generation status in Australian higher education equity policy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Patfield ◽  
Jennifer Gore ◽  
Natasha Weaver
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Low Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Higher Education Policy ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Indigenous Australians ◽  
Government Schools ◽  
Generation Status ◽  
Educational Disadvantage ◽  
Equity Policy

AbstractFor more than three decades, Australian higher education policy has been guided by a national equity framework focussed on six underrepresented target groups: Indigenous Australians, people from low socioeconomic status backgrounds, people from regional and remote areas, people with disabilities, people from non-English speaking backgrounds, and women in non-traditional areas of study. Despite bringing equitable access to the forefront of university agendas, this policy framework has fostered a somewhat narrow conceptualisation of how educational disadvantage should be addressed. Responding to calls for reform, this paper draws on survey data from 6492 students in NSW government schools to examine the extent to which a new category warrants inclusion in the national framework: first-generation status. We illustrate how being the first in a family to attend university brings distinct equity status and argue for a revision of the national equity framework to recognise and support students who are ‘first’.

The activation, appropriation and practices of student-equity policy in Australian higher education

2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Peacock ◽  
Sam Sellar ◽  
Bob Lingard
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Student Equity ◽  
Equity Policy

scholarly journals The struggle for higher education gender equity policy in Afghanistan: Obstacles, challenges and achievements

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred M. Hayward ◽  
Razia Karim
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Women Students ◽  
Gender Equity ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
National Level ◽  
Women Faculty ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Gender Policy ◽  
Equity Policy ◽  
Free Environment

The struggle for gender equity in Afghanistan has been a long and difficult one under war conditions. Nonetheless, amazing progress has been made both in transforming higher education and in improving the situation for women students and women faculty members over the last few years. What is particularly striking about this effort is the level of success in a very challenging environment. Part of the success, as we suggest, is a consequence of the focus on gender policy in higher education, which operates in an amazingly free environment. That has allowed the kind of analysis and discussion of traditional views about women to be examined and new policies put in place moving toward the MoHE goal of gender equity. Higher education has moved from a situation of virtually no women students, faculty, or staff in 2001 to 28% women students and 14% women faculty members in 2017. The atmosphere for women has changed remarkably with a Higher Education Gender Strategy to continue the process of change and a range of other policies and actions designed to create an open, comfortable, and equal environment for women. What is striking about these changes is that we think their success is due in large part to the narrow focus of change on higher education – a process that probably would not have succeeded if tried at the national level. Nonetheless, it is a first step in expanding improved conditions for women broadly in Afghanistan and is suggestive of a successful approach for other countries with serious problems of gender discrimination.

scholarly journals Aspiring to higher education in regional and remote Australia: the diverse emotional and material realities shaping young people’s futures

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Skye Gibson ◽  
Sally Patfield ◽  
Jennifer M. Gore ◽  
Leanne Fray
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
The Other ◽  
Remote Community ◽  
Policy Initiatives ◽  
Remote Areas ◽  
Equity Policy ◽  
Participation In Higher Education

AbstractStudents from regional and remote areas remain significantly under-represented in higher education despite decades of equity policy designed to encourage participation. One explanation is that policy initiatives often overlook the realities in local rural contexts that can make higher education less desirable. Applying the theoretical lens of ‘doxic’ and ‘habituated’ aspirations, this paper analyzes interviews with 13 students, 10 parents/carers, and 4 teachers from one regional and one remote community in NSW, Australia. We document the emotional and material realities shaping young people’s imagined futures in these communities, highlighting the commitment to a rural lifestyle in one, and the desire to escape the other community in decline. We argue that developing successful initiatives to address equitable participation in higher education requires a departure from hegemonic discourses of ‘rurality’ and greater recognition of and respect for the diverse needs and desires of regional and remote students.

Trumpocalypse and the Historical Limits of Higher Education Policy: Making the Case for Study/Struggle

2021 ◽  
pp. 107780042110146
Author(s):  
Leslie A. Williams ◽  
Sandy Grande
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Higher Education Policy ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Access To Higher Education ◽  
Racial Equity ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
White Voters ◽  
Liberal Reform ◽  
Equity Policy ◽  
A Site

This essay highlights the limits of liberal reform policies designed to increase access to higher education for minoritized and marginalized groups. First, we discuss Trump’s higher education agenda, focusing on his antipathy toward these populations and his commitment to White supremacy. We then focus on affirmative action in college admissions as an exemplar of a liberal racial equity policy, sketching its history, which illustrates its anemic effect, and White countermobilization against change that existed long before Trump. Next, we detail Trump’s efforts to eliminate this policy, which is part of the same populist, ethno-nationalist, anti-immigrant, anti-Black ideological campaign that has galvanized White voters across time. Ultimately, we argue that unbridled power won’t yield to liberal reforms. As such, we shift our focus to how higher education might be reimagined as a site of transformation, offering a series of provocations for a new horizon of racial equity in universities and society.

Equity Policy and Knowledge in Australian Higher Education

2014 ◽  
pp. 44-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Brett
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Higher Education Policy ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Research Progress ◽  
Teaching And Research ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Student Equity ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
Equity Policy ◽  
Equity Of Access

This chapter explores the role of knowledge within Australian higher education policy with specific emphasis on student equity. The Australian higher education system is designed to pursue teaching-, research-, and equity-related objectives. Teaching- and research-related objectives are broadly and successfully fulfilled through policy and funding, which facilitates these activities. Equity-related objectives are broadly pursued by policy and funding that aims to change the composition of staff and student populations engaged in teaching and research. Progress towards policy objectives of equity of access and participation remains elusive. This chapter examines the prominence of tacit and explicit forms of knowledge within equity policy as a factor in the efficacy of equity policy. Through examining Australian higher education equity policy through a knowledge-centric lens, elements of equity group-specific policy are found to have broader utility, with implications for policy design and reform.

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