WA Regional Higher Education Exchange 2024
Event Details
22 March 2024
ACSES was delighted to join WA Education Minister Tony Buti and Curtin University VC Harlene Hayne to attend and present at the WA Regional Higher Education Exchange on Friday.
This important event discussed how we can co-create opportunities to improve higher education access and success in rural, regional, and remote WA.
Here are some insightful quotes from the event:
“Large numbers of students are seeking help with food and accommodation. Students from the regions forced to travel to Perth are dropping out amid cost of living pressures.” Harlene Hayne
“In Australia we see tertiary education as a credential to get a job. But I have a romantic view of education that it is intrinsically important for society. So kids in the regions should have the highest possible level of education they can, not just for economic or job opportunities, but to make them better members for the community.” Tony Buti
“It’s a settled view by the Australian Government Department of Education that we will expand our higher education substantially. In doing so we need to hardwire equity into that. Geography matters to an extraordinary amount. Universities are not just one aspect that determines whether Australia prospers or not, but could very well be the aspect. All you need to do is look around to the countries in the Indian Ocean Region that are investing heavily in their knowledge economy.” Shamit Saggar
“If we look at 10 to 14-year-olds living in WA, non-First Nation students need to travel 82km on average to reach a university main campus, while First Nations students need to travel 362km. When we add in the Study Hubs, you can see those distances really decrease. For non-First Nation kids the average distance halves and for First Nations kids it reduces to about a third. And I think this really shows how Study Hubs are bringing universities closer to kids, or to tomorrow’s university students.” Gemma Cadby
“The WA data on university participation from regional and remote students shows we have work to do to achieve parity with population representation. In terms of student outcomes, some WA unis perform better than others, although it is also recognised that students differ across institutions and each institution faces their own challenges. We also don’t yet know much about the role of regional study hubs in engaging students and improving their success so more work is needed in this area.” Ian Li
In a statement released today the Australian Government Department of Education announced welcome news of the locations of 10 new Regional Study Hubs across Australia.
“I want more young people to get a crack at going to university and we know that postcode is a massive barrier for young people getting that chance,” Minister for Education Jason Clare MP.
“The evidence is that where University Study Hubs are, university participation goes up that’s why we’re announcing 10 new Regional University Study Hubs and there’s more to come.”