National data indicates that Indigenous students are less likely to complete Year 12 compared to non-Indigenous students and that Indigenous students have historically been less likely to gain an ATAR. Instead, Indigenous students are more likely to enrol in vocational education and training (VET) than in higher education, resulting in an opportunity to transition these students from VET into higher education via alternative pathways.
Strategically building on a project led by CQUniversity Australia’s Professor Bronwyn Fredericks, Associate Professor James Smith has been awarded funding by the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE) to examine additional evidence- and practice-based strategies developed by dual sector universities to enable successful higher education transition.
“Whilst enabling programs have received significant recent attention, the potential of the VET to HE pathway to increase Indigenous higher education participation remains largely unexplored,” Associate Professor Smith said.
Associate Professor Smith’s research team includes CDU colleagues Dr Jack Frawley and Ms Christine Robertson, Professor Steve Larkin from The University of Newcastle Australia, and Professor Andrew Gunstone and Dr Katya (Ekaterina) Pechenkina from Swinburne University.
The project is one of 10 funded via the NCSEHE’s 2016 Student Equity in Higher Education Research Grants Program. The project is scheduled to conclude in late 2016, after which time the final report will be made available here on the NCSEHE website.
