Indigenous students’ experience and engagement with support at university: a mixed-method study

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Madeleine Benton ◽  
Shane Hearn ◽  
Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Mixed Method ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Student Perspective ◽  
Aboriginal Education ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
Support Mechanisms ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
The University ◽  
Method Approach

Abstract There remains significant under representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australian higher education systems. A number of strategies have been implemented by governments and universities to best support Indigenous students within higher education that have produced varying levels of success in increasing participation, retention and completions. One key strategy is the inclusion of Aboriginal Education Units within universities. The current study aimed to examine students experience and engagement with a range of support services across university, in particular with an Aboriginal Education Unit. Utilising a mixed-method approach, data were collected from 103 students who identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander at The University of Adelaide. Overall, students were most satisfied with support provided by family (70%) and the Aboriginal Education Unit (61%), followed by support provided by university faculties (49%), and the wider university (43%). The main reasons students were accessing the Unit was for academic and tutoring purposes, also rating tutoring as the most beneficial service provided by the Unit. This study highlights the importance of examining and evaluating enablers such as support mechanisms from the student perspective and has demonstrated the significant role Aboriginal Education Units play in the student experience, laying a crucial foundation for targeted support initiatives.

scholarly journals NEWS: UQ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student Participation Project

1995 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-54
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Student Participation ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
Monitoring Strategies ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
The University

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit at The University of Queensland has identified the need to develop detailed monitoring strategies to gauge the participation and academic performance of indigenous students at The University of Queensland. To reach this goal the Unit has launched a project which aims to investigate the participation and post-study destinations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

scholarly journals Listening to and learning from the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to facilitate success

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katelyn Barney
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
Indigenous Australian ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
Future Developments ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
The University ◽  
Tertiary Study

Drawing on interviews with current and past Indigenous undergraduate students at the University of Queensland (UQ), this paper reports on findings from a project that explored the experiences of Indigenous Australian students and identified inhibitors and success factors for students. It also discusses one of the outcomes of the project and planned future developments that aim to provide better support for Indigenous Australian students at UQ. By knowing and acting upon the kinds of mechanisms that can assist Indigenous students, their experiences of tertiary study can be enhanced, leading to more students enrolling in and completing university study.

scholarly journals Community gets you through: Success factors contributing to the retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 13-23
Author(s):  
Katelyn Barney
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Student Retention ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
Indigenous Student ◽  
Undergraduate Study ◽  
Success In Higher Education ◽  
Torres Strait

This paper explores success factors contributing to the retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students identified through a National Teaching Fellowship. Interviews with Indigenous HDR graduates are analysed to explore inhibiting and success factors to completing an HDR. While the fellowship focused mostly on building successful pathways from undergraduate study into HDRs, interviewees also discussed success factors for completing an HDR. In order to address Indigenous student retention and success in higher education, finding out what contributes to successful HDR completions for Indigenous students across diverse disciplines is critical.

scholarly journals Employability readiness for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students: Yarning Circles as a methodological approach to illuminate student voice

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Michelle J. Eady ◽  
Joel Keen
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Student Voice ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Indigenous Research ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
Skill Sets ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
Personal Reflections

This paper describes the current situation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander graduates entering the workforce and compares this with personal reflections from current Indigenous students engaged in the tertiary setting. The purpose is twofold: first, to promote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student voice; and second, to provide an avenue for this voice to contribute to and influence the design of employability programs in higher education. This study examines how the use of Indigenous research methods, such as yarning/yarning circles, can effectively and ethically collect data to amplify and promote the student voice in ways that conventional Western research methods currently fail to do. This amplified voice can create a platform for researchers and practitioners to understand students’ views and implement informed and tailored approaches to planning programs and delivering curriculum; in this case, employability-readiness skill sets for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in higher education. The findings are analysed thematically, and recommendations presented for higher-education institutions to consider when creating pedagogical approaches for the employability readiness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander graduates.

scholarly journals Higher Education Completion Rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students Using A Multi-Agency Matched Population Cohort

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Ladbrook ◽  
Luke Hendrickson
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Demographic Data ◽  
Information Management System ◽  
Income Support ◽  
Completion Rates ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Random Forest Tree ◽  
Torres Strait

Using the Multi-Agency Data Integration Project (MADIP), which combines health, tax, welfare and demographic data with student data, our analysis looked at the relationship between income support and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander university completion rates. IntroductionDomestic undergraduate university completion rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are significantly lower (40%) than non-Indigenous students (66%). Few prior studies have used population level matched data from multiple agencies to analyse the determinants of Australian Indigenous completion rates. Objectives and ApproachWe aimed to quantify the major determinants driving the completion rates of Indigenous students in Australian undergraduate university courses compared with domestic non-Indigenous students. We used the Higher Education Information Management System (HEIMS) linked to the MADIP creating approximately 555, 000 records. A Random forest tree was constructed to determine the most important indicators for outcome of interest which were then used for matching and statistical analysis. Summary statistics and a binomial logit was used on the matched sample to confirm significance. ResultsWe found that Indigenous students are more likely to start university belonging to around three equity groups such as having a lower socio-economic status background, older commencement age and being the first member of their family to attend university. However, Indigenous status remains a significant contributor to lower completion rates after controlling for a wide range of equity groups. One factor that has a positive influence on Indigenous university completion rates is access to study assistance. Completion rates for Indigenous students who were not members of other equity groups on income support was 70 per cent compared to 57 per cent for similar students on no income support. Conclusion / ImplicationsThese linked datasets provide the opportunity to better evaluate the drivers of completion rates of Australian Indigenous students to inform and evaluate policy reforms.

Decolonising Gender: Stories by, About and with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-91
Author(s):  
Sandra Rennie
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Indigenous Australian ◽  
The Family ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
Doctoral Work ◽  
The University ◽  
As If

‘What is my story? Like you, I have many’, wrote feminist academic Sara Ahmed (Ahmed, 2010, p. 1). She asks, what is yours, what is mine? and begins her story at a table. ‘Around the table a family gathers’, she says, ‘Always we are seated in the same place. . .as if we are trying to secure more than our place’ (Ahmed, 2010, p. 1). In this paper, I draw upon Ahmed's work on willfulness and diversity work in higher education to explore the gendered stories of pathways through university shared with me by Indigenous Australian students. In the stories told in this paper, the table becomes the university space and the family becomes the students. The stories become more than securing place; they are stories which talk of willful resilience, resistance and persistence within that place called higher education. Grounded in my doctoral work with seven female Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, this paper specifically focuses on the gendered nature of such willfulness to consider the ways in which Indigenous Australian students negotiate pathways and success through university within/against Western colonial and patriarchal institutions.

scholarly journals Effects of Socio-Academic Intervention on Student Performance in Vulnerable Groups

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7673
Author(s):  
Tarquino Sánchez-Almeida ◽  
David Naranjo ◽  
Raquel Gilar-Corbi ◽  
Jessica Reina
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Academic Performance ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Academic Intervention ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
University System ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Economic Support ◽  
Support Mechanisms ◽  
The University

In Ecuador, affirmative action policies enable students from vulnerable groups to preferentially enter universities. However, these policies are limited to admission and do not include academic or socio-economic support mechanisms that, according to the literature, promote student insertion in the higher education system. In this study, the effects of socio-academic intervention on the academic performance of vulnerable students are presented. For this, 41 students were selected among 164 vulnerable students entering the Escuela Politécnica Nacional in the second term of 2019. The 41 students attended a socio-academic intervention course for one term, while the remaining 123 attended the Escuela Politécnica Nacional levelling course directly. Once both groups of students finished the levelling course, their performance in each of the course subjects was compared. The results showed that the academic performance of the students in the intervention was significantly higher in mathematics and geometry compared to the students who had no intervention. These results show that the socio-academic intervention promotes the real insertion of vulnerable students in the university system.

The Purga Project: Indigenous Knowledge Research

2001 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norm Sheehan ◽  
Polly Walker
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Research Methodologies ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
University Lecturers ◽  
The University

We are Indigenous University lecturers involved in research with the Purga Elders and Descendants Aboriginal Corporation. Our research at Purga involves the instigation of Indigenous Knowledge as the basis of effective and valid research methodologies. This article will describe the work that the University of Queensland (UQ) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit is doing at Purga. It will then articulate the principles of Indigenous Knowledge Research that inform this work.

scholarly journals Rapid response to supporting learning and teaching: A whole of university approach

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Campbell ◽  
Simone Poulsen
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Support Staff ◽  
Rapid Response ◽  
Just In Time ◽  
Support Line ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Online Engagement ◽  
Support Mechanisms ◽  
The University ◽  
And Training

One university responded rapidly to the changing landscape of higher education to support staff during this time. There are seven support mechanisms that have been put into place across the university to assist staff. Results show data that reports on these mechanisms and that they are seemingly successful, except for the Support Line which has since been reconfigured to still provide support for the small number accessing it. The results also show that a rapid response, if targeted, is able to provide just in time support and training to staff when moving rapidly online. Through the use of the online engagement framework it can be seen that by supporting staff through the seven mechanisms, staff are in a better place to ensure that students are engaged while learning online.

Exploring the educational needs of adult learners: A study of three universities in Ghana

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaw Owusu-Agyeman ◽  
Magda Fourie-Malherbe ◽  
Liezel Frick
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Mixed Method ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Educational Needs ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Educational Challenges ◽  
Method Approach

Adult learners have unique educational needs that require attention from Higher Education Institutions, facilitators and industry. While several theories and policies have been developed to address the bourgeoning educational challenges confronting adult learners in Higher Education Institutions, not much has been achieved in the wake of growing knowledge and skills demands of employers. Using a mixed method approach, a survey (n = 200) and focus group discussions (n = 27) were conducted among adult learners who were also professionals studying engineering programmes in three diverse universities in Ghana. Additionally, interviews were conducted with representatives from industry and from the three engineering departments in the three universities. The study revealed that while the development of separate programmes for adult learners in Higher Education Institutions is not plausible in meeting the educational needs of adult learners, a different pedagogy could be used in addressing the unique knowledge and skills needs of adult learners. We present the implications of our study in relation to theory, practice and further research.

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