The Australian Universities Accord
Throughout the world, and particularly in the so-called “first world”, universities are reinventing themselves to make the courses they offer more relevant and attractive to wider groups of people. “Promoting diversity”, drawing students from “non-traditional backgrounds” and “ensuring student success” are all phrases which frequently occur in universities’ mission statements. In most instances these are not just empty words: they are backed up by recruitment drives, introducing flexibility to the curriculum and how it is delivered and by harnessing new kinds of teaching and learning resources.
In Australia and New Zealand, there is a special dimension to such initiatives: for some years, both countries have been exploring ways of acknowledging the unique contribution made to their heritage and body of knowledge by First Nation peoples. This has been accompanied by a growing desire to formalise, celebrate and benefit from this contribution.
The Australian Universities Accord, whose interim report was published in August, represents an important milestone in this process. To summarise, the interim report states the following:
·?????? To provide Australia with the bright future it deserves can be achieved only through providing greater equity of opportunity, which in turn means addressing the urgent need to attract more students from under-represented groups, especially from First Nation communities. Barriers to engagement in tertiary education for under-represented groups include geographical remoteness and ability to pay.
·?????? Suggested remedies to address the mismatch between what the country requires and what is currently being practised include fostering greater co-operation between government, business and the university sector to ensure that the right skills are being taught – with particular emphasis on the power of critical and independent thought – to provide Australia with an agile, suitably qualified workforce.
·?????? To this end. courses provided by the existing university sector should be complemented by courses delivered by regional centres or “tertiary study hubs” in remote areas and a similar concept to be developed by sub-metro locations.
·?????? The whole student funding framework should also be reviewed and all competent and interested First Nation students should automatically receive funds. At the same time, the tertiary education proposition in Australia should be designed to attract more Commonwealth and other overseas students. (Australian universities have seen a drastic downturn in enrolment by overseas students since the Covid lockdowns.)
·?????? ?In some areas, teaching standards require improvement. Better techniques are also required to map student development and identify areas in which students are struggling.
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·?????? Methods of course delivery should be more flexible, and include student-centred learning, evidence-based learning, remote learning options and the creative use of new technologies, including Artificial Intelligence. The types of course and qualification offered should be much more flexible and encourage students to develop a portfolio of qualifications to which they can add throughout their careers as the need arises – for example, with short courses that result in diplomas, “nested qualifications”, micro-credentials, etc., by promoting in-depth study in discrete topics.
If it were not for the fact that the Accord was particularly drafted to encourage the uptake of tertiary education by First Nation peoples, it could have been prepared by any first-world government or education department. Perhaps accelerated by the rapid emergency measures that had to be taken to enable students to continue with their education during the Covid lockdowns, but certainly conceived of several years before them, dynamic measures are being taken by universities to ensure they welcome students from a much wider variety of backgrounds and circumstances – including those from ethnic minorities, those with physical or mental disabilities, those who can only study part-time or remotely, and those who are the first in their families to be educated to degree level.? They understand that it is only by doing so, and by altering their approach to teaching and learning accordingly – and making undergraduate courses relevant to modern employment requirements – that they will continue both to flourish and to provide their countries with the workforce needed to build the successful economies of the future.
Two months after the Australian Universities Accord interim report was published, First Nation peoples in Australia suffered a significant set-back when the Australian Indigenous Voice referendum was defeated in the Australian parliament by 60% - 40%. The referendum proposed the following changes to the Australian constitution:
In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia:
Gold Leaf asked contacts in the Australian academic communities whether the failure of the Indigenous Voice referendum to get passed would affect commitment to the Australian Universities Accord. They said they don’t think so; that the universities have been so deeply committed for so long to both the sentiments and the practical suggestions set out in the interim report that they are unlikely to be affected by the result of the referendum; and they also said that they and others will not give up on promoting the referendum itself – it will be reintroduced to Parliament in a different form.
For the sake of universities everywhere that are attempting to dispel prejudices about who “should be” an undergraduate, it is to be hoped that such optimism is well-founded. The final version of the Australian Universities Accord is scheduled to be published before the end of 2023 – though the publication date may slip into 2024. It will then be clear whether it reinforces what is stated in the interim document or has made modifications to bow to the views of the dissenters.
[written by Linda Bennett ]