Email
When I first entered La Trobe University in 1997, things were tough. I might never have gone to university if I hadn't secured scholarships for my course fees and accommodation. At first, I was ineligible to receive Abstudy, the allowance provided by the government for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
Embarrassed at needing support to go to university and feeling less entitled to be there, I told no one I was on scholarships. Had I known that I would be one of only 38 Indigenous students qualifying for a bachelor degree with honours in my graduation year, I would have viewed my entitlement to support very differently.
Inspired by my own student experiences, I began working in the higher education sector as an Indigenous student support officer. Indigenous Australian student numbers grew steadily over this time as more Indigenous people came to see tertiary education as an option. Indigenous staff numbers grew as well, almost doubling between 2002 and 2012.
Indigenous students and staff now make up about 1% of the student and staffing numbers nationally, but 3% of the population as a whole – so there is still some way to go before we achieve parity.
Cuts to funding hit Indigenous students hard
Things have got harder, rather than easier, for Indigenous students and staff over the years. The base payment rates for Abstudy have barely risen, yet costs of living have soared.
The previous Labor government discontinued the student start-up scholarships and replaced these with a loan to be added to students' Higher Education Loan Program (Help) debts for tuition fees. Because Indigenous students are significantly more likely to be from lower socio-economic backgrounds and therefore qualify for income assistance schemes, they accumulate larger debts at a much higher rate than other students.
Indigenous students are also more likely to be older and therefore supporting families on their small student incomes. Most of my work in student support revolved around finding additional funding sources for students to make ends meet – everything from full scholarships to book vouchers.
As the current coalition government implements the previous government's A$2.3bn funding cuts to higher education, and also allows universities to dramatically increase course fees to account for the shortfall, I feel that the financial situation is going to get worse for Indigenous students and attrition rates will increase. Our higher education qualification rates are nowhere near those of non-Indigenous people and these changes are not going to help.
Indigenous programmes under threat
Another concern students sometimes relayed to me was the lack of inclusive spaces within universities. Our universities are based very much on UK teaching and learning models, and this is reflected in the curriculum, the support services and the cultures of our universities.
In 2011, the Review of higher education access and outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was launched. The report recommended that Indigenous culture and knowledge be embedded across the entire university so greater cultural change was achieved, and that Indigenous-specific spaces on campus needed to be increased and strengthened.
Many universities reacted positively to these recommendations. In a climate of cuts to higher education, however, their actions have been quite different.
A number of Indigenous-specific academic programmes at our centres are now under threat, with staff either being moved into faculties or deemed surplus to the requirements of the university. Reviews and restructures of Indigenous centres at Deakin University, Australian Catholic University, University of Western Sydney and University of Sydney, among others, are particularly concerning.
At some universities, Indigenous support programmes have been absorbed into the mainstream support areas where students have been reluctant to access them and staff have found themselves in culturally-unsafe spaces. The prospects for universities with inclusive attitudes towards Indigenous people are bleak.
Universities in Australia have a long way to go before they become places where Indigenous students and staff feel welcomed and valued for the unique contributions they make.
Unfortunately, it seems it's going to get tougher before we start seeing any real equitable gains. This is a real shame because in a country like Australia, which is home to the oldest continuing knowledge systems in the world, Indigenous Australia has much to contribute.
Celeste Liddle is the national Indigenous organiser at the National Tertiary Education Union – follow her on Twitter @Utopiana
Australian and UK universities mimic each other's strategies when it comes to higher education funding and policy. But who's leading the way, and are they going in the right direction? We spend two weeks debating, sharing stories and opening up the discussion.
Join the Higher Education Network for more comment, analysis and job opportunities, direct to your inbox. Follow us on Twitter @gdnhighered.
;