Join our mailing list
Sign up to our email newsletter for regular news and information from the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education.
University: Curtin University
Lead Researcher: Tim Pitman and Sue Trinidad
Funding Round: 2014
Funding Received: $155,785
This project investigated a review and analysis of enabling programs offered by Australian higher education providers focusing on domestic students from disadvantaged groups including low SES, Indigenous, students with disability, regional and remote students, and students from non-English speaking backgrounds. The report examined programs’ effectiveness and appropriateness as pathways to university, variability in program quality, and potential measures to improve their effectiveness.
University: La Trobe University
Lead Researcher: Andrew Harvey
Funding Round: 2015
Funding Received: $127,000
This project produced a model for attracting and supporting care leavers into higher education. Analysis of international research; analysis of data collection methods; and in-depth interviews with care leavers provided insight into the group’s experiences and outcomes. Project outputs included guidelines for students who have spent time in out-of-home care and guidelines for university staff delivering outreach and support to this target group.
University: Queensland University of Technology
Lead Researcher: Rebekah Russell-Bennett and Maria Raciti
Funding Received: $580,000
This project aimed to synthesise best practice social marketing and widening participation to design an effective, national social marketing strategy for low socioeconomic status students, families and communities. The specific objectives of the strategy were to: increase awareness of, and aspiration to, tertiary study; increase knowledge of pathways to tertiary study; and increase numbers of applications to tertiary study and pathways courses.
Funding Received: $351,804
Higher education expansion places adaptive pressure on institutional and policy frameworks designed at times of lower levels of participation. This project examined the impact of rising complexity in admissions practices on student decision-making, especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and the responses of universities and state-based Tertiary Admissions Centres (TACs) to challenges associated with rising student participation, diversity and mobility, and complex admissions processes.
University: Charles Stuart University
Lead Researcher: Julia Coyle
Funding Round: 2016
Funding Received: $164,269
This project identified factors contributing to the decisions of people with disability from low SES regional and remote backgrounds to access and participate in higher education. This included the decision to delay university study until later in life. Surveys and interviews with school and university students and community members with disability informed recommendations for students and their families, and for higher education leaders and policymakers.
University: University of Queensland
Lead Researcher: Bill Martin
Funding Received: $145,000
This study determined the scope of a new Widening Participation Longitudinal Study (WPLS), its design, governance structure, and indicative costings. The WPLS provides the opportunity to map the pathways of disadvantaged learners towards higher education, with a focus on student aspirations and expectations, as well as broader social and economic factors such as family attitudes; financial decision-making; peer influences; and mental and physical wellbeing.