Seeking research participants — Exploring how regional people navigate into and through higher education
NCSEHE Equity Fellow Dr Janine Delahunty is conducting a project looking at how we can better support regional students as they consider, pursue and complete their university studies.
Janine is seeking the views of higher education staff in various roles as well as staff in secondary schools who provide support to senior regional students in various ways.
Participation is via a 15-minute survey for university staff, or school staff. If you’d prefer an interview (30–45 minutes) please contact Janine (janined@uow.edu.au).
More information can be found here: university staff or school staff or by contacting janined@uow.edu.au.
Project overview
This Equity Fellowship focuses on the perspectives of regional students, who are either already studying at university or are nearing the end of secondary school and contemplating their future.
Through interviews and surveys, the aim is to gather in-depth understandings of what is pertinent for regional students. These experiences and perspectives will be used to unpack some of the complexities that emerge, and will shed light on what it is like “being regional” in order to gain a deeper understanding into why regional students are more likely than their metropolitan counterparts to discontinue their studies. This will contribute to how regional students can be better supported in pursuing their goals and completing their studies.
In particular, Janine is interested in how higher education is experienced (or imagined); the multilayered nature of decision-making when considering university study and future possibilities; and the barriers and enablers that are influential in hindering or assisting students’ efforts towards achieving goals. Reflective, open questioning is intended to elicit nuanced responses from the study participants. This will assist in developing a deeper understanding of students’ motivations and the complexities of their decision-making — often against a backdrop of multiple and compounding educational and structural inequities.
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