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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.

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You are reading: An evaluation of equity initiatives on higher education participation

Trial overview

Registered
Users Priority Students: Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders, Low socio-economic status backgrounds, Regional, remote, or rural locations
Academic Cap Stage of Intervention: Pre Higher Education
Chart Line Outcomes: Access, Engagement, Progression

What was trialed

This quasi-experimental analysis will evaluate the impact of university-run equity initiatives (that is, programs that aim to increase higher education enrolments from under-represented groups) on students’ higher education participation.

These equity programs largely capture university-operated widening participation activities for low socio-economic students, rural and regional students, and First Nations students, funded via the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program (HEPPP).

Equity programs sit predominately within the pre-access and access stage of the student life cycle. At the pre-access stage, the implementation of the HEPPP has been a major driver of university-run outreach initiatives in Australian schools (Bennett et al., 2015). Outreach activities commonly consist of informational interventions, which provide students with material about the benefits of higher education, and experiential interventions, which present opportunities for students to experience university life (Gale et al., 2010). Activities within the access phase of the student life cycle center on senior school students and school leavers, and aim to provide opportunities for higher education access through pathways and admissions (Bennett et al., 2024).

 

What was found

Results will be released in February 2027.

How the trial was delivered

This quasi-experimental analysis will use secondary data analysis from the GENERATION study, a longitudinal study of Australian young people (Edwards et al., 2024) . The GENERATION study design followed a stratified random sample of students in Australian schools, beginning in 2022. Schools were selected to represent all Australian states/territories and school sectors (that is, Government, Catholic, and Independent schools).

Schools in the GENERATION study were asked whether they had any university-run equity programs (that is, programs that aimed to increase higher education enrolments from under-represented groups) in 2022.

At Wave 4 of GENERATION, university enrolment, retention, sense of belonging, and academic engagement will be assessed. These outcomes will be compared between matched groups of students who did and did not attend schools with an equity initiative.