2020 Indigenous Education Statement

1. Enrolments (Access)

1.1. Strategies to improve access

“The University of New England respects and acknowledges that its people, programs and facilities are built on land, and surrounded by a sense of belonging, both ancient and contemporary, of the world's oldest living culture. In doing so, UNE values and respects Indigenous knowledge systems as a vital part of the knowledge capital of Australia.” ¹

UNE Acknowledgement of Country, UNE Strategic Plan 2016-2020.

¹ The words of this acknowledgement are attributed to former Director of the Oorala Aboriginal Centre, Debra Bennell.

In 2020 unparalleled environmental conditions including extreme drought, extensive bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic created a unique set of disruptive challenges for the University of New England (UNE).  Key to the successful negotiation of these challenges by UNE has been the adaptability and resilience of its staff and students, and the regional communities to which it is bound. One measure of this resilience in 2020 – for which UNE is appreciative and proud – is that despite the disruption to normal academic programs brought about by COVID-19 restrictions, the number of Indigenous student enrolments remained largely unchanged from the previous record high enrolment of 2019.

The ability of UNE to continue to engage and attract Indigenous students in a year of crises and uncertainty reflects the long and sustained record of the Institution and its work to improve higher education and employment outcomes for Indigenous Australians. Throughout 2020, the Oorala Aboriginal Centre played a crucial role in enabling the adaptation of our Indigenous students to the rapid changes in teaching and learning brought about by COVID-19 restrictions. Founded at UNE in 1986, Oorala is an integral and enduring part of the University’s ongoing commitment to improve the access to - and outcomes for - Indigenous students in higher education. This ‘whole of University’ commitment to improving higher education outcomes for Indigenous Australians is affirmed by the UNE Indigenous Education Strategy 2019-2021which envisions UNE as an:

“Higher education provider that provides a culturally-welcoming environment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff and students. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are empowered to excel and thrive through equal partnerships and the valuing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledges, practices and principles”

In 2020 this vision wasfurther supported and made actionable via the endorsement by Reconciliation Australia of the inaugural UNE Reconciliation Action Plan 2020-2021 which was published in June 2020.[1] Moreover, as a result of the inclusive and robust dialogue that occurred during the latter half of the year as part of the UNE 21+ conversation, UNE’s commitment to equitable access to higher education regardless of circumstance – and its support for the unique requirements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people looking to undertake higher education – is now enshrined within the newly released UNE Strategic Plan 2021-2030: Future fitting lives and communities . This decadal Strategic Plan seeks to ‘Future Fit’ the people and places with which UNE is enmeshed by:

• crafting, adapting and supporting learning journeys that are distinctive in their accessibility and flexibility;
• creating and sharing knowledge to make a difference locally, regionally and globally; and
• committing to environmental, social and financial resilience for the University, our staff, our students and our communities.

The Oorala Aboriginal Centre will continue to play a vital role as UNE aspires to continuous improvement in its support of Indigenous students and staff in Higher Education. Empowered by the ‘Future Fit’ agenda the Centre will strive to be at the forefront of securing UNE’s aspirational goals to Empower communities, Build Resilience and offer Personalised Learning Journeys for the increasing cohort of Indigenous Australians who choose to study with us.

1.2. The Oorala Aboriginal Centre and Indigenous student access to higher education

Oorala - from a local Aboriginal word meaning "a camp" or "a place where people come together," was chosen by Aboriginal students enrolled at UNE when the Centre first opened. It reflects the historical significance of the site and its connection with the local Aboriginal community, and also highlights the Centre's significance as a place that draws together Aboriginal students from all regions of Australia.

In the early 1990s, Oorala introduced three highly successful alternate entry pathway programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at UNE. These included the national award winning TRACKS tertiary preparation program, the Pre-Orientation Program (POP) and the Internal Selection Program (ISP). Together these programs broadened the available access to higher education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Due to a number of practice-led teaching and learning initiatives these three programs are, some twenty-five years later, still a foundational part of the suite of academic supports offered to Indigenous students by Oorala. Oorala has maintained the relevance of these Programs through: continual evaluation and review; ongoing academic development; continuous community collaboration and partnership; and technological innovations in course design and delivery. This has occurred in collaboration with relevant professional and academic staff across UNE including staff within Information Technology, Library Services, Learning Design and/or Discipline based expertise.

1.3 Bridging and enabling courses

As mentioned above the provision of alternative entry pathways is a significant component of UNE’s long-term and successful approach to ensuring Indigenous student access, which includes a flexible approach to entry requirements through Oorala’s Direct Entry (ISP) and TRACKS Programs. Additionally, UNE has an online Pathways Enabling Course that is also available to Indigenous students although it is not specifically tailored to support Indigenous transition to university. In 2020, 89 Indigenous students participated in UNE’s Indigenous alternate entry and/or Enabling Programs (Table 1).

(Table 1).

Table 1: Summary of UNE Bridging and Enabling Courses.

1.3.1 Additional enabling strategies

UNE also provides other discipline specific access and enabling programs for our Indigenous students. Examples of alternate entry and access initiatives of the Faculty of Medicine and Health (M&H) and the Faculty of Science, Agriculture, Business and Law (SABL) are outlined below.

Faculty of Medicine and Health (M&H)

Miroma Bunbilla: From its inception in 2012, the UNE School of Rural Medicine has collaborated annually with the University of Newcastle (UoN) to host thisAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pre-entry pathway to the Joint Medical Program (JMP). In previous years the Miroma Bunbilla Program ran as a five-to-seven day On-Campus experience in which prospective medical students participated in a range of pre-admission activities including multiple skills assessment; personal qualities assessment; small group problem-based learning tutorials; anatomy sessions and basic science resource sessions. A confirmation of Aboriginality interview was also included, in which the University Elder in Residence and an Aboriginal community member met with each prospective student.

In 2020, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Miroma Bunbilla Program 2020 was adapted for small in-person group participation with coordinated online delivery, with all activities delivered via Zoom. The program retained its problem-based and group based learning modules with participants asked to collaborate and complete assessment tasks via online study groups in dispersed small group settings including at Moree, Tamworth, Orange and Newcastle. Each dispersed venue was subject to a COVID-19 Safe Plan with all social distancing protocols maintained throughout. The Head of the School of Rural Medicine and the Acting Director of Oorala travelled to Moree to support and inform program participants of their options for study at UNE, whilst the Manager of the Student Engagement Team at Oorala travelled to Tamworth to similarly support participants in the program. Two Indigenous medical students from UNE also supported the program as mentors in Moree and Tamworth. Seven participants of this Program were offered places in the JMP Program at UNE for 2021 and all have commenced their studies in Semester 1 2021.

Equity Quota: The Joint Medical Program at UNE has set a 10% quota for students of an Indigenous background. Seven offers were made to Indigenous students for admission to the JMP at UNE to commence in 2021. This is the highest ever number of offers made to Indigenous students to commence medicine at UNE, enabling the School to meet the 10% quota that the JMP has set for Indigenous student intake into medicine. Rural background students also have an equity admission pathway, with the JMP setting a 30% quota.  The Australian Government requires that 27% of commencing intake should be from rural background.  UNE met this quota in 2020.

Support for Nursing and Allied Health Workers: The School of Health provides Indigenous students with access to the UNE Bachelor of Nursing degree by providing information and opportunity for students to participate in:

• Cadetships with NSW Health (any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student entering an undergraduate nursing degree at UNE is eligible to apply for a NSW Government sponsored cadetship with NSW Health); and
• Direct Entry (Interview Pathway) – an alternative pathway for enrolment in a Bachelor of Nursing aimed at any nursing student.
• NSW Department of Education Aboriginal Health Worker Project – this project maps competencies from Certificate IV to the Bachelor of Community Services to ensure credit is granted to the maximum extent possible and aligns with UNE strategies for improved access, unit success rates and retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

Faculty of Science Agriculture, Business and Law (SABL)

With the Faculty of Science Agriculture, Business and Law (SABL) at UNE, a focus of the following two initiatives in 2019 was to boost the participation of students from low socio-economic backgrounds, including Indigenous students:

Boosting Science Pathways:

In the Faculty of SABL, 72% of students entered a Science course via the School Recommended Early Entry pathway in 2020. All students who enrolled in a STEM or Agriculture course were directed to the Boosting Science Pathways course (BSP) course from the UNE101 online preparatory unit prepared by the UNE Student Success Team. Of those students who enrolled in the BSP, 42% were from inner regional and 32% from outer regional locations across New South Wales and Queensland; and 16% of students were from low SES backgrounds. It is estimated that ~6% of participating students identify as Indigenous.

Open Universities Australia: The Faculty of SABL has offered the Bachelor of Laws and Diploma of Science through Open Universities Australia (OUA) since 2019. By 2020, over 900 OUA students have undertaken SABL units with 66 students (over 6% of total enrolments) identifying as Australian Aboriginal or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. Offering SABL units and courses through OUA has increased our rates of participation for Indigenous Australians. SABL is continuing to increase and diversity the courses and units with OUA with a view of continuing to increase rates of participation.

1.4 Scholarships

1.4.1 Indigenous Commonwealth Equity Scholarships

ISSP grant monies fund a number of ongoing Indigenous Commonwealth Scholarships (as per Sections 19-22 of the Indigenous Student Assistance Grants Guidelines 2017 [herein ‘the Guidelines’]) including: scholarships that assist with education costs (Indigenous Commonwealth Education Costs Scholarships [ICECS]) and scholarships that assist with relocation costs, accommodation costs or relocation and accommodation costs (Indigenous Commonwealth Accommodation Scholarships [ICAS]). A breakdown of scholarship monies paid to Indigenous students at UNE in 2019 is shown in Table 2. At UNE, these Commonwealth scholarships are provided to Indigenous students on an ongoing basis for the full-time- equivalent duration of their course of study.

Table 2: ISSP supported scholarships (Breakdown of 2019 payments).

a. = Student Head Count since one student may receive more than one type of scholarship.  Source Oorala Aboriginal Centre and UNE Scholarships Office

1.4.2 Targeted ISSP-funded undergraduate scholarship support

UNE is committed to supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students with scholarships to help achieve their academic goals. As part of this commitment, in 2020, the Oorala Aboriginal Centre continued the Oorala Merit Prize and introduced the Oorala Wellbeing Scholarship and the Oorala Kick Start Scholarship,the latter to commence in Trimester 1 2021. The nature and purpose of each of this suite of Oorala Scholarships is described below:

Oorala Merit Prize: Designed to recognise high performing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student success, this Prize is aimed at undergraduate students and is awarded annually to three students from each UNE Faculty who have completed a minimum of 72 credit points of study. Additionally one Indigenous student from the TRACKS Tertiary Preparation Program and one student from the Pathway Enabling Program, who have successfully completed their course, and are currently enrolled in an undergraduate unit of study at UNE, will be considered for a Merit Prize. Merit Prizes are awarded to students with the highest course grade point average (GPA) at the time of selection, and it will be a one-off prize awarded once throughout a students’ period of study at UNE. In 2020, there were 28 recipients of the Oorala Merit Prize (See Reward Column in Table 2).

Oorala Wellbeing Scholarship: The Oorala Aboriginal Centre, in collaboration with UNE’s Student Accessibility & Wellbeing Office, developed the Oorala Wellbeing Scholarship, worth $500 per annum to recipients, in 2020. The Accessibility & Wellbeing Office at UNE supports those students who are: (a) living with a disability or health condition, (b) caring for a family member, (c) elite athletes (d) Australian Defence Force and/or State Emergency Services personnel, (e) living remotely, (f) incarcerated and/or (g) lack access to reliable internet and online technology. Many of our Indigenous students fall into one or more of these categories and receive support from the Accessibility and Wellbeing Office throughout their studies. The Oorala Wellbeing Scholarship arose out of our joint vision to improve access to the UNE experience for everyone, regardless of background or current situation. Five students were awarded this Scholarship in 2020.

Oorala Kick Start Scholarship: This scholarship is designed to encourage Indigenous High School students to choose UNE; and especially to develop continuing supportive relationships with school-leavers who have participated in one or more of the Oorala Youth Leadership Camps or Experience Days. It is a one of scholarship payment to the value of $1000 for full-time students and $500 for part-time students. These funds are provided to help support Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students with the costs of starting their tertiary studies.

Source: Oorala Aboriginal Centre and UNE financial Services Directorate.

1.4.3 Non-ISSP funded undergraduate scholarship support

The Oorala Aboriginal Centre, and the broader UNE community, further supports Indigenous undergraduate students to participate and progress in their studies by:

• providing a range of additional non-ISSP funded scholarships;
• providing a number of discipline specific awards and prizes that recognise and support academic achievement and progression;
• actively facilitating the application of eligible students for external scholarship opportunities;
• providing a detailed webpage that identifies the many internal and external funding opportunities available to students; and,
• providing regular email, social media and online learning system hub updates about forthcoming scholarship opportunities.

Outlined below are details of a variety of non-ISSP funded financial and associated supports provided to Indigenous undergraduate students studying at UNE in 2020:

Donor Scholarships: The University has a number of undergraduate scholarships funded by various external donors (as both individuals and organisations; and including UNE). A number of these scholarships are specifically available to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students studying at UNE. Eleven Indigenous applicants met the eligibility requirements and were scholarship recipients in 2020 (Table 3). In addition, two students received continuing funding into 2020 because of their prior receipt of an externally funded multi-year scholarship (Table 4). These 13 undergraduate students received a total of $87,000 in Donor Scholarships during 2020 (Table 3 + Table 4).

Table 3: Donor Scholarships awarded to UNE Indigenous undergraduate students in 2020.

Source: UNE Scholarships Office.

Table 4: Repeat Donor Scholarships awarded to UNE Indigenous undergraduate students in 2020.

Source: UNE Scholarships Office.

Indigenous Undergraduate Medicine Scholarship:

This scholarship is a joint initiative of the UNE School of Rural Medicine and the Oorala Aboriginal Centre. The first scholarship was awarded in 2019. The purpose of this Scholarship is to encourage Indigenous students to study medicine at UNE by helping to alleviate their financial burden whilst studying. It provides a total value of up to $30,000 for a maximum period of 5 years. The 2019 recipient of this scholarship received ongoing funding into 2020 to support progress into 2^nd year Medicine. There were no new recipients of this scholarship in 2020 with one commencing student applicant not meeting eligibility criteria. The scholarship was carried over to 2021 with two scholarships to be awarded in 2021.

Discipline Specific Awards:

In 2020, Indigenous student James Dries was awarded the Barker Prize in Genetics from the School of Science and Technology. This $200 cash prize is a merit prize awarded on the recommendation of the Head of the School of Science and Technology to the student who achieves the highest mark in the unit GENE210.  In addition, there were several other discipline specific awards provided exclusively to Indigenous students at UNE in 2020. These included annual undergraduate student nursing achievement awards, as well as a number of progression scholarships awarded to Indigenous students in the Joint Medical Program for successful progression through to the next semester of their studies (Table 5).

Table 5: Additional awards/prizes given to Indigenous undergraduate students at UNE in 2020.

Source: UNE Schools of Health and Rural Medicine.

Furthermore, where applicable, students are provided with discipline specific advice on other externally funded scholarships to which they may be eligible. For example in the School of Health Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students who are continuing Bachelor degree studies at UNE are alerted to their eligibility for the following scholarships

• Australian College of Nursing – The Puggy Hunter Memorial Scholarship Scheme (F/T) ($15,000);
• Australian College of Nursing – the Puggy Hunter Memorial Scholarship Scheme (P/T) ($7,500);
• Australian Rotary Health Indigenous Health Scholarship ($5,000); and the
• NSW Health Aboriginal Postgraduate Scholarship ($15,000)

Similarly, in the School of Psychology Indigenous students are encouraged to apply for the following Indigenous awards:

• ATSIPP Indigenous Student Conference Attendance Awards offered by the Australian Psychological Society (APS) to attend the annual APS conference. The award provides up to $1200 to attend the Annual APS Conference;
• Australian Psychological Society Bendi Lango Bursary for Indigenous postgraduate students; and
• The Muriel Mary Snow Indigenous Honours Prize for 4th year students commencing postgraduate study with a research component.

Oorala Scholarship Webpage:

The Oorala Aboriginal Centre website includes an Oorala Study Support Scholarships portal that links to information about all the scholarship opportunities available to Indigenous students studying at UNE. The website is available at https://www.une.edu.au/info-for/indigenous-matters/oorala/scholarships. Further, students receive electronic notification of forthcoming scholarship opportunities via: email through the Student Management System, via curated posts to the Oorala Facebook page, and through notices posted to ‘the Hub’, the designated Indigenous student forum curated by Oorala on “Moodle,” the UNE Learning Management System (LMS).

1.5 Support for indigenous postgraduate scholarship at UNE

Throughout 2020, UNE Research Services continued to support and progress Indigenous participation in the research enterprise of the University in accord with the UNE 2016-2020 Research Plan. The actions taken in 2019 to provide increased financial support to Indigenous Research students at UNE and to provide current Aboriginal PhD candidates a pathway into Academic positions at UNE were again operational in 2020. These actions included:

• Making available a new suite of Indigenous Higher Education Research (IHDR) Scholarships (Each valued in 2020 at $36, 250 p.a. for three years for a PhD; or two years for a Research Masters);
• Transitioning a number of Higher Degree Research students to Indigenous Early Career Fellowships; and
• Providing seed grant funds to support Indigenous community engagement in research.

A unique feature of the IHDR scholarships is that candidates are eligible to apply to Research Services for an additional $7, 000.00 per year for cultural supervision and/or mentoring on top of their standard scholarship. Table 6 shows a summary breakdown of the funds allocated in 2020. UNE Research Services directly funded this financial support.

Table 6: Value of Scholarships and Stipends awarded to UNE Indigenous Higher Degree Research Students in 2020.

The research training, scholarship opportunities, and mentoring afforded Indigenous students undertaking postgraduate scholarship at UNE enabled the following noteworthy outcomes for individual students in 2020:

• Mr. Callum Clayton Dixon won the NSW Premiers Community and Regional History Prize in September 2020 for his book titled: ‘‘Surviving New England: A history of Aboriginal Resistance & Resilience through the First Forty years of the Apocalypse”. The book represents the formal publication of the dissertation Callum prepared whilst a postgraduate student in the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at UNE and for which he was awarded a Master of Philosophy in History in August 2019.
• In 2020, Ms. Dawn Lewis undertook a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science Honours Degree at UNE and achieved a First Class result. At the same time, she was supported by lecturers in the Discipline of Archaeology and staff within the Oorala Aboriginal Centre (including the Elder in Residence) to: (a) successfully apply for admission to the University of Oxford to pursue an MSc in Archaeological Science and; (b) successfully apply for a Charles Perkins Scholarship to fund her studies at Oxford.  Dawn is currently in Oxford pursuing her Masters Studies.

1.7 Indigenous student Enrolment Numbers and Equivalent Full time student loads (EFTSL).

1.7.1 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Enrolments 2020

In 2020 there were 945 Indigenous students attending UNE with 978 corresponding Indigenous course enrolments. This number is above the mean Indigenous student enrolment (n=881) experienced at UNE during the period 2015-2020, and therefore remains consistent with the sustained upward trend in Indigenous student enrolments experienced at UNE for much of the last decade  (Figure 2). Likewise, Indigenous students accounted for 4.25% of all domestic student enrolments at UNE in 2020. This represents a total Indigenous student population at UNE above parity with respect to the proportion of Indigenous people (2.9%)[1] in the wider Australian population. Furthermore, despite the triple challenges of prolonged drought, catastrophic bushfires and the COVID-19 Pandemic variously impacting UNE throughout 2020, there occurred only a minimal (<0.7%) decline in total Indigenous student enrolments between 2019 and 2020. This is both testimony to the overall resilience of our Indigenous student body; and reflective of the commitment to Indigenous student support made by the Oorala Aboriginal Centre and the wider university community during this prolonged period of uncertainty.

Figure 1: Total Indigenous Student Enrolment at UNE for the period January 2016 to December 2020.

1.7.2 Total Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student Load 2020

At UNE, the Indigenous share of total domestic student load has also maintained an upward trajectory in recent years (Figure 3). In 2016, the total EFTSL borne by Indigenous students was 383.92. By 2020, the total Indigenous student EFTSL was 494.17, a 28.9% increase in this five-year period. The total Indigenous EFTSL for the 2020 reporting year reflects a minimal (<0.7%) decline from the peak Indigenous EFTSL of 497.47 reported in 2019.  This achievement of an Indigenous student EFTSL load of close to 500 in two consecutive reporting years, speaks to a growing steadfastness in Indigenous student interest and commitment to courses provided by UNE.

Figure 2: Total Indigenous Student Load (EFTSL) at UNE for the period January 2016 to December 2020.

1.7.3 Commencing and Continuing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student Trends 2016-2020

The raw EFTSL borne by Indigenous students commencing at UNE has remained above 175 for the five-year period 2016-2020.  However, during this time it has fluctuated year on year, with no clear linear trend discernable. This fluctuation suggests the existence of stressors (likely external) to which the prospective Indigenous student market remains sensitive. In contrast, the proportion of raw EFTSL borne by continuing Indigenous students at UNE has trended strongly upwards, rising from 207.3 to 283.3 EFTSL (or by 37%), during the same five-year period (Figure 4). Moreover, the raw difference between the total EFTSL attributable to Indigenous students who continued their studies and those who commenced study in 2020 was 72.8 EFTSL, a difference more than 5 times the equivalent measure of 13.5 EFTSL in 2019 (Figure 5). It seems clear, therefore, that the minimal (0.7%) decline in total Indigenous EFTSL at UNE in 2020 (see 1.7.2 above) directly results from a substantial increase in continuing student load.

Figure 3: Commencing and Continuing Indigenous Student Study Load as proportion of
Total Indigenous EFTSL at UNE for period 2016-2020.

Figure 4: Difference in Total EFTSL borne each year by Commencing and Continuing Indigenous Students
at UNE for the period 2016-2020.

1.7.4  On-Campus versus Off-Campus/Online Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student Cohorts 2016-2020

The proportion of Indigenous students who choose to study units Online at UNE has risen by 8.6 % in the period 2018-to 2020 reflecting an increasing upward trajectory for student uptake of online study that has prevailed for the past decade (Figure 6). For both 2019 and 2020, more than eighty percent of our Indigenous students studied online (Figure 6). This positive uptake of online modes of study demonstrates the fact that the Indigenous student cohort at UNE is responsive to:

1. the accessibility of UNE’s courses and their modes of delivery, [which is itself built on UNE’s long standing commitment to Distance Education]; and
2. UNE’s continuing innovation(s) in online teaching and learning; as well as to UNE’s commitment to enhanced flexibility in course delivery and design.

It further suggests that the increased communication and pastoral support measures developed as part of Oorala’s Integrated Student Engagement Plan, and the additional adjustments made in light of COVID-19 disruptions, were well placed to support the needs of current students during this crisis period.

Figure 4: On Campus and Online Indigenous Student Study Load as proportion of total Indigenous EFTSL, UNE 2016-2020