The Australian government has announced comprehensive reforms to increase higher education access for indigenous students. The changes include a guarantee of Commonwealth-supported university places for all eligible Indigenous students, the creation of new study hubs, an end to penalties for academic underperformance, and an extension of a grant program for disadvantaged students. The government aims to double Indigenous university enrollments within a decade.
The Australian government announced an extensive reform package designed to improve access to higher education for indigenous students and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. In a significant move, all indigenous students will now be guaranteed a Commonwealth-supported place at their university of choice.
Despite indigenous Australians comprising 3.8 percent of the population, their representation in domestic university enrollments is a mere 2.06 percent. This figure is even lower at elite institutions, according to a press release by Education International. The reforms introduced by Federal Education Minister Jason Clare aim to eliminate these discrepancies and facilitate Indigenous access to higher education.
Previously, a funding guarantee was limited to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in regional and remote areas. The reforms now extend this support to all eligible Indigenous students applying to universities. Other measures in the package include the introduction of study hubs in outer suburbs and regions, the abolition of a rule that deprived students of government funding if they failed more than half their subjects, enhanced governance at universities, and a two-year extension of a grant program targeting support for underprivileged students.
The government envisages that these measures will double Indigenous university enrollment in a decade, with the number of Commonwealth-supported students projected to increase from 900,000 to 1.8 million by 2050.
These equity-enhancing steps coincide with the interim report from the Higher Education Review Panel, commissioned by the Federal Education Minister to recommend transformations to the university sector. The panel is set to deliver its final report, proposing broader sector changes, in December.
The National Tertiary Education Union, a member of Education International, participated in the panel’s work, focusing on four key priority areas: secure and valued employment in higher education, funding reform, governance and regulation, and equitable access. While welcoming the initial measures, the NTEU emphasized the need for further reform.
In its report on public attitudes toward higher education, the NTEU highlighted issues such as reduced federal funding, precarious employment, the undue focus of universities on profit at the expense of education, and the high salaries of university Vice-Chancellors. As per the report, federal funding fell from 0.9 percent of GDP in 1995 to 0.6 percent in 2021, equivalent to an AUD6.5 billion ($4.43 billion) decrease in funding, and casual employment grew 78 percent faster than total sector employment in the decade before the pandemic.
