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Higher Education Review ProcessAchieving Equitable and Appropriate Outcomes: Indigenous Australians in Higher Education4. how well are the key goals of the aboriginal education policy being met?43 This section of the paper briefly analyses available data related to the performance of the sector with regard to Indigenous higher education to determine whether there has been significant improvement in access to educational services and in educational outcomes. It also comments on the involvement of Indigenous people in educational decision-making. a. access to higher education44 There were 1 750 commencing Indigenous students in higher education in 1989, the year of agreement to the AEP. By 1992, this number had increased by 54 per cent to 2 691 commencing students. The increasing trend in numbers and proportions of Indigenous commencing students continued steadily for the next three years, and then less steadily through to 1999. In 2000, there was a decrease in the number and proportion of Indigenous commencing students, which steadied in 2001 at 3 565 students or 1.5 per cent of the domestic higher education commencing student population (figure 1). figure 1. indigenous commencing students in higher education, 1992 to 2001
Source: DEST (2002). 45 Traditional benchmarks for the proportions of Indigenous students participating in higher education are the proportions of Indigenous people in the population between the ages of 15 and 64 years. At the 1991 Census this benchmark was 1.4 per cent, at the 1996 Census it was 1.7 per cent and at the 2001 Census it was 1.9 per cent. These benchmarks are not adjusted for the age distribution of Indigenous people (see Footnote 1). 46 The pattern for all Indigenous higher education students since 1992 differs slightly from that of Indigenous commencing students, but overall the numbers and proportions also peaked in 1999, then decreased in 2000 and steadied in 2001, at which point there were 7 341 Indigenous students comprising 1.2 per cent of the domestic student population. 47 An important aspect of access is the level of course at which students are studying. There has been an 11.4 percentage point increase in the proportion of Indigenous students studying at bachelor level or higher between 1992 and 2001 (table 2). The decrease of 9.3 percentage points at other undergraduate award level (that is diplomas, advanced diplomas and other awards) is greater than the decrease for domestic students at this level over the same time (4.7 percentage points) and may indicate a transfer of students from this level to bachelor level. table 2. all indigenous and domestic students by broad level of course
Source: Higher Education Student Statistics Collection. 48 Analysis of data for commencing and all Indigenous students shows that key decreases between 1999 and 2001 were at levels below bachelor award (see appendix a). The total decrease in Indigenous students between 1999 and 2001 was 660. The decrease at the enabling and non-award level was 541 students and the decrease at the other undergraduate award level was 293. However, there was also a decrease of 46 students at the postgraduate level, with most of this decrease occurring in master’s by coursework programmes. 49 In summary, in spite of significant improvements in participation over the last decade, these data indicate that performance against the goals of equity of access and participation for Indigenous students needs to be improved. Proportions of commencing students (at 1.5 per cent) and all Indigenous students (at 1.2 per cent) remain lower than the proportion of Indigenous people in the Australian community of a comparable age (that is, 2.5 per cent when adjusted for the age distribution of Indigenous people). The proportion of Indigenous students at degree level and higher, (72.9 per cent) is significantly lower than the proportion at this level for domestic students (96.5 per cent). b. educational outcomes50 Of equal importance to the number of Indigenous students accessing higher education is the academic achievement of these students. Like other Australians, Indigenous people enter higher education with high aspirations and a willingness to make financial commitments. Current levels of Indigenous participation in higher education suggest that the Commonwealth and universities have increased access to higher education but that more could be done to enable Indigenous students to graduate. 51 One key measure of academic success is award course completion. Numbers of Indigenous award course completions have increased over the decade, peaking in 1998. In 2000, there were 1 026 Indigenous award course completions, which comprised 0.75 per cent of domestic completions (figure 2), which is less than the level of participation. Martin et al (2001) estimated the probability of completion for the 1993 cohort of Indigenous students at 41.6 per cent compared with non-Indigenous students at 64.6 per cent. The lack of substantial increase in the proportion of Indigenous award course completions over the last decade reflects the relatively low Indigenous completion rate. figure 2. indigenous award course completions in higher education, 1991 to 2000
Source: DEST (2002). 52 The small decrease in numbers of Indigenous award course completions between 1998 and 2001 (116) comprised 82 at diploma level and only two at the degree level. It is likely that the decrease in completions reflects, to some extent, the shift of students from studying for other undergraduate awards (that is diplomas) to degrees, with courses at the latter level taking more time to complete. The other main area of decrease (38 completions) was in other postgraduate award courses. 53 Another measure of academic success is the progress rate, which looks at success at a unit level rather than at the level of a complete award course. The progress rate is defined as the proportion of units passed within a year compared with the total units enrolled. In 2001, the national progress rate for Indigenous students was 67.6 per cent compared with a progress rate for non-Indigenous students of 87.3 per cent (table 3). This comparatively low level of progress has changed little over previous years (table 4). Progress rates for 2001 also show that unlike the performance of all domestic students, the rate for commencing Indigenous students, at 63.7 per cent, was considerably lower than that for continuing students, at 71.9 per cent. table 3. progress rates for commencing and continuing students, 2001
Source: Higher Education Student Statistics Collection. table 4. progress rates, 1995 to 2001
Source: Higher Education Student Statistics Collection. 54 Indigenous people are progressing in their studies and are achieving award course completions. However, the lack of a substantive increase in the proportion of Indigenous completions or a substantive increase in Indigenous progress rates between 1991 and 2000 indicates that there is considerable need to improve the academic outcomes of Indigenous people. Relative to their fellow university students, completion rates are lower. 55 On a more positive note, however, Graduate Careers Council of Australia (GCCA) data indicate that for those Indigenous students who do complete their higher education award, employment prospects are good (table 5). For Indigenous people, as for all other Australians, a university degree is a passport to employment success. table 5. proportions of respondent graduates in full-time (f/t) work,1999 to 2001
Source: Graduate Careers Council of Australia (1999, 2000 and 2001). 56 Yet, whilst there are positive employment prospects for the majority of Indigenous graduates, relatively few Indigenous people are being employed in the higher education sector itself. This is despite the importance of Indigenous academics to the delivery of education to Indigenous people and to higher education institutional policy making. Staff data indicate that numbers of Indigenous academics and non-academics are increasing significantly, by 83.1 per cent and 32.0 per cent respectively between 1996 and 2001 (table 6). The number of both Indigenous academic and non-academic staff (FTE) as a proportion of all FTE staff in 2001 was 0.7 per cent. table 6. FTE for full-time and fractional full-time indigenous staff by current duties
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| above senior lecturer (FTE) |
senior lecturer level C (FTE) |
Lecturer level B (FTE) |
below lecturer level A (FTE) |
sub-total academic (FTE) |
non-academic (FTE) |
|
| 1996 | 14 | 24 | 43 | 43 | 124 | 222 |
| 1997 | 15 | 29 | 65 | 51 | 160 | 252 |
| 1998 | 14 | 38 | 82 | 64 | 198 | 258 |
| 1999 | 19 | 35 | 73 | 55 | 182 | 280 |
| 2000 | 20 | 33 | 98 | 62 | 213 | 274 |
| 2001 | 20 | 34 | 108 | 65 | 227 | 293 |
Source: Higher Education Staff Statistics Collection.
57 A key goal of the AEP was for increased involvement of Indigenous people in educational decision-making. Most higher education institutions have strategies in place to consult with local Indigenous communities and a number of institutions have introduced advisory structures that encourage Indigenous input to top-level committees addressing such issues as ethics, curricula and research. There are no formal structures for the Commonwealth to receive advice from Indigenous representatives of the higher education sector although informal communication does occur at officer level between DEST and the National Indigenous Higher Education Network (NIHEN). NIHEN comprises Indigenous directors of institutional support / education units, heads of schools and other senior Indigenous academics.
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