‘Equal participation’ for disadvantaged students at universities by 2050

Indigenous, regional and disadvantaged students will have the same chance of studying at university under a push towards equal participation outlined in a sweeping tertiary education review.

Charlotte Smith is studying science at the Australian National University in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

Indigenous, regional and disadvantaged students will have the same chance of studying at university as their more privileged peers, under a push to reach equal participation by 2050 outlined in a sweeping review of the tertiary education sector.

The government’s Universities Accord Review has recommended universities adopt ambitious completion targets to increase participation in higher education among under-represented groups, with a financial bonus to be given to universities that meet their goals.

Funding will be made available for students from marginalised backgrounds under the review’s proposal, to recognise that these students will “need more support than others to complete their degree”.

The wide-ranging review of the tertiary sector warned that the nation will fail to fill skills shortages unless more students from minority backgrounds enrol in higher education.

“Every Australian should have the opportunity to experience the life-transforming benefits of tertiary education,” it said. “This is vital for Australia’s future.”

The review recommended targets be set to increase the proportion of Indigenous students enrolled in an undergraduate degree from 2.1 to 3.3 per cent by 2035, and the number of students from regional and rural areas from 19.8 to 24 per cent. It also set a target to increase the proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, which the government refers to as “low socio-economic status”, from 17 to 20.2 per cent by 2035, with their participation to be equal by 2050.

The review also suggested targets for university attainment for Indigenous students could be linked to the Closing the Gap initiative to boost the number of First Nations people aged 25-34 to have completed a tertiary qualification by 2031.

Australian National University student Charlotte Smith, who has beaten the odds to become the first person in her family to finish high school and study at university, said she supported targets to increase the number of students from under-represented backgrounds.

As an Indigenous woman, raised by a single mother in Tully – a town of about 11,000 in north Queensland – the chances the 18-year-old would attend university were stacked against her. First Nations people make up 3.7 per cent of the population but only 1.5 per cent of degree completions, while 26 per cent of Australians were from regional areas but only accounted for about 20 per cent of degree completions.

A quarter of the population is from a low SES background but only 15.7 per cent of students from this cohort complete a university qualification, according to the review panel.

Ms Smith said it was vital students from less privileged backgrounds were financially supported to complete their studies, after the review flagged reform to the HECS student loan system to assist students.

“There’s so much more outside of that, which uni students have to pay for, like accommodation, our food and getting here,” she said.

As an Indigenous woman, raised by a single mother in Tully, the chances Charlotte Smith would attend university were stacked against her. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

“It’s great that the government wants to reduce HECS fees but I can pay back my debt later on, but at the moment we need to focus on putting money into the students actually living.

“I already know people who are struggling to afford basic food necessities, even though they have scholarships that are paying for their tuition.”

Ms Smith has navigated her first few weeks at university knowing she could soon lose her sight, after she was recently diagnosed with Stargardt disease, a disorder that causes progressive vision loss.

Undeterred, she began her first semester of a science degree this year and intends to study astronomy and astrophysics, before going on to postgraduate study.

She said education was vital to achieving the Closing the Gap targets, and she supported linking the goals for universities to increase the number of marginalised students with the national initiative to end Indigenous disadvantage. “It’s going to have that domino effect on Closing the Gap,” she said. “Closing the education gap will also be dependent on how much university costs, because there’s a lot of students … who can’t afford university.”

Education Minister Jason Clare has not committed to any of the recommendations but said his priority was “helping more kids from the outer suburbs and the regions, more kids from poor families, get a crack at university”.