Equity in Australasian Higher Education: Can we actually have an impact and how can we/ should we measure it?

Description

With the Australian Universities Accord and other major equity initiatives in Australia and New Zealand, there appears to be a new momentum towards ensuring enhanced equity and participation across the sector. However, despite the flurry of activity, equity targets remain difficult to reach. Hence, CAULLT invited key equity practitioners to answer the question on whether our actions can actually have an impact and how we can measure impacts of our activities.

Enabling pedagogy offers insight into how we can better support equity in Australasian higher education. Jennifer will outline the ADEPT framework (Stokes, 2023) and consider how enabling pedagogy fosters impactful learning. She will discuss how we can build upon research from the enabling sector to embed evidence-based approaches, which encourage transformative outcomes for students and universities. 

What really works in improving higher education access and success for under-served students? Despite decades of research, relatively little effort has gone into empirically testing what interventions work, and embedding an evaluative mindset within the right people, and units, in our universities. The Trials and Evaluations Program at Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success was established to address these needs. Staff from ACSES will outline how they can assist universities in this regard.

Presenters: Jennifer Stokes (University of South Australia), Patrick Broman (Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success, Curtin University), Dr. Tim Pitman, and Dr. Patricia Vermillion Peirce, CE.