Indigenous Student Experience in Higher Education

Higher education today is faced with many challenges. However, behind some of those challenges are potential opportunities. One in particular is the focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and especially the unpacking of systems and processes that are increasingly becoming more prevalent in higher education's ecosystem of support, mainly for Indigenous students. This is due in large part to the global shift in the rising diverse student populations across college and university campuses. Indigenous students are entering today's evolving college landscape with a clear sense of purpose. To take advantage of this opportunity, institutions are pivoting their support structures to also facilitate their diverse student populations and learning outcomes. They are developing programs to make sense of the Indigenous student experiences, issues, challenges, and are paying special attention to strategies and infrastructures designed to safeguard their student success.

Reciprocal Mentorship as Trans-Systemic Knowledge: A Story of an Indigenous Student and a Non-Indigenous Academic Supervisor Navigating Graduate Research in a Canadian University

Reciprocal mentorship is how Indigenous students and non-Indigenous supervisors can supportively navigate their way through graduate research in higher education. Reciprocal mentorship as trans-systemic knowledge values both Indigenous and Eurocentric worldviews, whereby the student has the expertise from Indigenous community and the academic supervisor has the expertise in the academic world. Through sharing stories of their research journey within a Canadian University, Webster and Bishop offer key insights around engaging in reciprocal mentorship, navigating the two-worlds, finding a common language, and having shared values. As a result, Indigenous and non-Indigenous students and supervisors may see themselves within the stories and seek reciprocal mentorship to be successful in the academic research and educational journey and make an impact in their university and beyond.

INDIGENOUS EDUCATION AS A NATIONAL PROJECT IN MEXICO 1910–1920S

This article focuses on the study of the characteristics of the sociocultural policy of the Mexican state in relation to the indigenous population in the 1910–1920s – a period of revolutionary transformations and the building of a “new type” society in Mexico. During the Mexican Revolution, the “Indian question”, along with the work and agrarian question, became a key point in the policy of the revolutionary governments. The importance of the popular education issue in Mexico in the first post-revolutionary years was determined by the fact that three quarters of the population did not have access to the state education system, as well as by the existence of numerous ethnosocial groups, territorially and culturally separated from each other and the rest of the country. It should be emphasized that the 1910–1920s were marked by the genesis of numerous theories of the unification of Mexican society and the integration of the native population, as well as by the introduction of modern, experimental teaching methods (in particular, the rationalist and socialist school), the purpose of which was to translate into reality the Revolution ideals and build a new Mexican society. The policy of integrating the native population of Mexico was carried out through numerous educational projects, which include the “cultural missions”, “Indigenous Student House”, “House of the People” and others. Analysis of archival materials related to the preparation of the first «cultural missions», as well as the functioning of educational institutions designed to educate the indigenous student, made it possible to identify the characteristics of the socio-cultural integration of the rural population of Mexico during the above period.

Spending for success: identifying ‘what works?’ for Indigenous student outcomes in Australian Universities

Despite the continued investment in Indigenous support networks and dedicated education units within universities, levels of key performance indicators for Indigenous students—access, participation, success and completion (attainment)—remain below that of the overall domestic student population in most institutions. It remains important to determine what works to achieve Indigenous student success in higher education. This paper proposes that such methods have an integral role to play in providing a holistic view of Indigenous participation and success at university, and are particularly useful in the development and evaluation of strategies and programs. This project found no quantitative correlation between financial investment and success rate for Indigenous students. A negative correlation between access rate and success rate suggests that factors other than those that encourage participation are important in supporting successful outcomes. Those universities that have high success rates have a suite of programs to support Indigenous students, but it is not immediately clear which of these strategies and programs may be most effective to facilitate Indigenous student success rates. In this discussion, we suggest that a multi-layered determinants model is a useful way to conceptualise the many factors that may impact on student success, and how they might intersect.

Improving Indigenous student outcomes through improved teacher education: the views of Indigenous educators

This article describes an alternative approach to improving Indigenous student outcomes through improved teacher education, expressed through the views of Indigenous educators. The strategies required relate to the need for a cultural shift within the current Australian education system identified by Indigenous educators. The research demonstrates how connections between Westernised education systems and knowledge of Indigenous educators provide a locus of potential for the improved educational outcomes of Indigenous students. Indigenous educators’ knowledge about teaching and their specialist knowledge about Indigenous content place them in a position of epistemological privilege. The vehicle for change in the interests of Indigenous students is teacher education, and the driving force of untapped potential is Indigenous educators.

What is it like to be an indigenous student of business administration?

Resumo Historicamente, a educação superior, em especial nos cursos de administração no Brasil, foi criada e aperfeiçoada pelas classes dominantes e seus interesses políticos e desenvolvimentistas. As iniciativas de reserva de vagas para indígenas estudarem nas universidades públicas brasileiras, como no caso das universidades estaduais do Paraná, a partir de 2001, passaram a ser uma novidade questionada por esses estudantes, por meio de barreiras levantadas na estrutura educacional não contemplativas do chamado pertencimento étnico-comunitário e acadêmico dos estudantes. O objetivo geral deste estudo é identificar e analisar quais as compreensões, expectativas e os dilemas presentes nos percursos formativos dos estudantes indígenas dos cursos de administração das universidades estaduais paranaenses. Em busca desse conhecimento, a história de vida, por meio da estratégia do testemunho, foi utilizada para compreender e analisar as experiências dos indígenas relativas aos seus percursos formativos. A pesquisa indicou pistas do que é ser um acadêmico de administração indígena no espaço acadêmico e étnico-comunitário, além de apontar anseios com relação ao mundo do trabalho. Teoricamente, o estudo trouxe uma perspectiva mais restrita ao duplo pertencimento, saindo de uma visão macro.

“Matemáticas indígenas”: Tensionamentos na formação intercultural para professores

This article analyzes tensions that take place when a Brazilian indigenous student develops research on emerging community issues and establishes relations between practices from indigenous tradition and mathematical practices from school, in the context of an intercultural teacher training undergraduate course. The work is situated on the intercultural field, on the decolonial perspective, and on ethnomathematics, created from the late work of Wittgenstein and Michel Foucault’s thought. It is a qualitative perspective, composed by multimodal data from a Pataxó student’s research, articulating texts, images, audio of the defense session, an interview, and a questionnaire. The analysis shows that tensions evolve from power relations between the Western mathematics and the other ways to produce mathematics, in this case, using the traditional knowledge of Pataxó body paint. Such tensions highlight the impossibility of accepting the existence of a universal mathematical language and legitimates Pataxó mathematics, within their schools, with its own epistemologies based on reasons, cosmovision, and spiritualities.