opening page ornament

The Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success acknowledges Indigenous peoples across Australia as the Traditional Owners of the lands on which the nation’s campuses are situated. With a history spanning more than 60,000 years as the original educators, Indigenous peoples hold a unique place in our nation. We recognise the importance of their knowledge and culture, and reflect the principles of participation, equity, and cultural respect in our work. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and future, and consider it an honour to learn from our Indigenous colleagues, partners, and friends.

You are reading: ACSES Equity Hub Community of Practice: Advancing Equity Evaluation

18 November 2024 | Waipapa Taumata Rau | The University of Auckland, New Zealand

The Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success (ACSES) hosted an engaging Equity Hub Community of Practice (CoP) at the University of Auckland on Monday, 18 November 2024. The event brought together equity practitioners, program managers, and researchers from across the higher education sector to share insights and strengthen networks.

The Equity Hub CoP featured robust discussions on evaluating equity initiatives, reflections on 2024, and collaborative planning for 2025.

Highlights included a panel discussion chaired by ACSES National Student Equity Evaluation Manager Patrick Broman “Collaborating for evaluation: observations and learnings from The University of Western Australia”. With contributions from project lead Nadine Zacharias (ACSES Visiting Scholar); UWA’s Elisa McGowan, Clara Yuan, Katie Douglas, Riett Kriel; and ACSES Research and Policy Director Ian Li, the discussion covered valuable lessons on team building for evaluation, data collection, and balancing qualitative and quantitative approaches in evaluation.

Patrick then addressed an important issue affecting the sector based on ACSES’s Trials and Evaluation (T&E) team’s engagement with colleagues and stakeholders from across all Australian universities—the need for capacity-building. To fulfil this need, he then outlined a planned approach to empower members of the sector with evaluation expertise via a credentialled training program.

ACSES Trials Lead Patricia Vermillion Peirce followed with her reflection on 2024 and plans for 2025. These included Equity Frontiers program funding, Trials for Equity workshops and broader engagements, information on the seven ACSES-funded trials currently underway, as well as news of the T&E Program’s inaugural Evidence for Equity: Equity Frontiers Forum in the first half of 2025.

T&E Director Tim Pitman concluded the event with an open discussion with in-person and virtual audiences exploring challenges in student equity and strategies for generating collaboration across institutions. He then shared some preliminary results from a Slido survey for attendees. Clear trends were evident in a poll asking participants: “When I think about evaluative capacity within my organisation, I think that, compared to 12 months ago”.

  • 38% said “We are more or less the same as before”
  • 33% said “We are somewhat better prepared than before”
  • 24% said “We are much better prepared than before”
  • 5% said “We are somewhat less prepared than before”
  • 0% said “We are considerably less prepared than before”

This event highlighted ACSES’s commitment to supporting equity practitioners through knowledge-sharing and capacity-building initiatives. It also demystified the trials and evaluation process, encouraging collaboration to identify effective strategies for improving outcomes for Australia’s marginalised students and closing the equity gap.

Stay tuned for more updates on our upcoming programs and opportunities to get involved in shaping student equity outcomes for 2025.