In May, Kathleen (Kath) Nelly was one of four student panellists for the session “Listening to the Student Voice: Challenges to Student Success at University and Beyond” at the inaugural “Access, Achievement, Accord 2024: The Australian Student Equity Symposium”. This week, she shared some of her personal journey into and through higher education, key takeaways from the Symposium, and views on ways we can make higher education more accessible for people from underrepresented backgrounds in the future with some of her Curtin University community.
Her passion for advocating for access to quality education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth shone through during Kath’s presentation. She highlighted the importance of delivering outreach programs that encouraged students to continue their education journey based on their individual needs, attracting people into university through a variety of entry ways not solely straight out of school, and enabling students to succeed at university with the right levels of support at the right times.
One of the areas of the Universities Accord recommendations Kath wished had been talked about more during the Symposium was the push for greater self-determination and more leadership and governance positions within universities filled by First Nations people.
Kath is a Yamatji-Noongar Aboriginal woman with connections to Badimaya and Wirolim people, residing on Whadjuk land in Boorloo (Perth). She is currently a fourth-year Bachelor of Commerce student majoring in International Business and Anthropology and Sociology at Curtin University and a member of the ACSES Advisory Board. She is highly involved in advocacy work to encourage Aboriginal and Strait Islander youth into higher education.
You can watch her participation in the student panel discussion at the Symposium here.
