tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/regional-students-21897/articlesRegional students – The Conversation2022-07-12T20:03:10Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1866302022-07-12T20:03:10Z2022-07-12T20:03:10Z$1.5bn has gone into getting disadvantaged students into uni for very small gains. So what more can be done?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473518/original/file-20220712-13-1wrjox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=534%2C0%2C4285%2C2845&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The proportion of Australian university students from under-represented backgrounds has “barely moved” in more than a decade, federal Education Minister Jason Clare <a href="https://www.jasonclare.com.au/media/speeches/5137-universities-australia-2022-gala-dinner">noted</a> last week. About 15% of undergraduates came from low-socieconomic-status (SES) backgrounds in 2008, he said, and a <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/BudgetReview200910/EducationHigher">target of 20% by 2020</a> was set. Today the figure is <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/national-data/">around 17%</a>.</p>
<p>Since 2010, the Australian government has invested <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/has-government-investment-higher-education-equity-been-worth-it">nearly A$1.5 billion</a> in higher education equity programs. Yet participation and retention rates for the various equity groups <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/publications/ncsehe-briefing-note-equity-student-participation-australian-higher-education-2014-2019-2/">remain stubbornly lower</a> than for other students. Equity groups include students from low-SES backgrounds and regional and remote areas as well as Indigenous students and students with a disability. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bridging-programs-transform-students-lives-they-even-go-on-to-outperform-others-at-uni-171721">Bridging programs transform students' lives – they even go on to outperform others at uni</a>
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<p>The new minister’s commitment to improving outcomes for students from disadvantaged backgrounds is welcome. The challenge is to identify exactly how to achieve that goal. Reasons for the lack of progress to date are both “big” (macro) and “small” (micro). </p>
<p>At a macro level, the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ejed.12441">systemic issues</a> include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>finance – on average, students now <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/317516">takes 9.4 years to repay</a> their university debt, but the <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/maria-raciti-fellowship-perceived-risks-university-lowses/">perceived financial risk increases</a> for those from less wealthy backgrounds</p></li>
<li><p>distance – students from rural and remote areas often must relocate for their studies, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1755458618302226">adding complexity to educational choices</a></p></li>
<li><p>prior education – students don’t have equal access to the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07294360.2012.750278">knowledge they need</a> to succeed at university. They might have attended a school where going on to university is unusual or be the first in their family or community to do this. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>All these issues mean attending university is a more complicated endeavour for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-first-in-family-uni-students-should-receive-more-support-38601">Why first-in-family uni students should receive more support</a>
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<h2>What needs to be done instead?</h2>
<p>Achieving more equitable participation in higher education requires fundamental shifts. </p>
<p>The first shift relates to <a href="https://scholars.uow.edu.au/display/publication138663">how universities consider diverse students</a>. Current <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/higher-education-statistics/resources/2017-section-11-equity-groups">equity group definitions</a> do not adequately capture the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00131911.2020.1740172?journalCode=cedr20">diversity of learners within equity groups</a>. </p>
<p>Students should not be characterised only in terms of “binary” groups – for example, low socio-economic status or not. We need far more nuanced understandings of students’ individual circumstances than postcode identifiers or <a href="https://issr.uq.edu.au/higher-education-participation-and-partnerships-program-2016-national-priorities-pool-review-identified-equity-groups">outdated classifications</a> can provide. </p>
<p>The lack of progress on equity points to the need to avoid a <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/mediareleases/university-support-humanitarian-migrants/">“one size fits all” approach</a>. Targeted support <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Mercer-Mapstone_USYD_Final.pdf">attuned to students’ individual needs</a> is essential. </p>
<p>Technology can be used to provide <a href="https://studentsuccessjournal.org/article/view/2152">support at critical stages</a> of students’ academic journey, pre-empting decisions to quit their studies. An example of this would be using data analytics to check that students are regularly accessing online content. Checks like these should be followed up with in-person support via telephone or email. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/odds-are-against-first-in-family-uni-students-but-equity-policies-are-blind-to-them-155647">Odds are against ‘first in family’ uni students but equity policies are blind to them</a>
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<h2>Disruption has created opportunities</h2>
<p>The timing for such change is perfect. The pandemic has caused a major disruption to higher education delivery. At the same time, the global move to <a href="https://theconversation.com/digital-learning-is-real-world-learning-thats-why-blended-on-campus-and-online-study-is-best-163002">blended learning</a> – combining electronic or online learning with face-to-face options – offers huge flexibility to better focus on students as individuals. </p>
<p>Students with a disability or who are older, have family or work responsibilities or live a long way from campus need this flexibility. Designing learning that works for students amid the realities of the pandemic particularly <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1360080X.2021.1933305">favours those from equity groups</a>. The lack of flexibility in traditional on-campus offerings often excluded them. </p>
<p>Carefully embracing the <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Baker_UNSW_FINAL.pdf">possibilities of technology</a> can lead to inclusive practices being “embedded” across the institution, rather than being an add-on or an afterthought. However, this is expensive work that requires adequate resourcing. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07294360.2022.2057450">Recent research</a> found full-time students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds are <a href="https://www.acer.org/au/discover/article/ditch-the-widgets-start-investing-in-their-amazing-futures">four to six times more expensive</a> to support. Smaller regional campuses are often the ones that bear these costs.</p>
<p>The researchers called for more transparent and realistic funding models that cover the hidden investment by some institutions. They found the “opaque” nature of equity funding is a problem.</p>
<p>For example, a student may belong to more than one equity group and so receive funding from various schemes. Or the services provided for equity students are used by all students for much broader benefit. These complexities mean a realistic cost analysis is difficult. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-can-put-city-and-country-people-on-more-equal-footing-at-uni-the-pandemic-has-shown-us-how-164492">We can put city and country people on more equal footing at uni — the pandemic has shown us how</a>
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<h2>And what can each institution do?</h2>
<p>Such big changes need to be accompanied by actions at an institutional and individual level. The mantra “you can’t be what you can’t see” challenges universities to reconsider how their marketing and recruitment <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-edit/10.4324/9780367854171/reimagining-higher-education-student-rachel-brooks-sarah-shea">portray “being a student”</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/200917-HE-Facts-and-Figures-2020.pdf">Nearly one in four students are older than 24</a> when they start university. Marketing and images that assume a younger school-leaver cohort need to be discarded. </p>
<p>This is important from an equity perspective. If you already have a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ejed.12434">lower sense of belonging or feel like an “imposter” at university</a>, depictions of youthful student “homogeneity” only confirm this. </p>
<p>Equally, small but important gestures can make a big difference to learners’ achievements in higher education. Using an <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/publications/covid-19-student-equity-australian-higher-education/">“equity lens” to look at all facets of the university</a> is key. Begin with things like:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>providing clear and simple explanations instead of obtuse university terminology</p></li>
<li><p>scrutinising timetables to avoid unintentional exclusion - this might include specific options for parenting students or those who work to support their studies </p></li>
<li><p>ensuring <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/research-database/assessment-adjustments-impact-inclusion/">inclusive design principles</a> underpin decisions on assessment and program design</p></li>
<li><p>highlighting the diversity of staff.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>These are simple but effective ways to promote feelings of belonging not only for equity groups but also students in general. </p>
<p>To realise the minister’s laudable ambition, all these changes need to be co-ordinated and based on solid evidence. An overarching <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/research-database/the-best-chance-for-all-a-policy-roadmap-for-post-pandemic-panic/">equity roadmap</a> is needed. </p>
<p>Any change should be informed by <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/">significant research in this field</a> and key stakeholders. They include not only those working at the equity coalface but also the people most affected by greater inclusion: the students, families and communities that our higher education institutions serve. </p>
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<p><em>This article is part of The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/breaking-the-cycle-119149">Breaking the Cycle</a> series, which is supported by a philanthropic grant from the Paul Ramsay Foundation.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186630/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah O' Shea receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Department of Education. She is affiliated with University of Wollongong (Honorary Fellow), the Churchill Trust and the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education. This article is part of The Conversation's Breaking the Cycle series, which is about escaping cycles of disadvantage. The series is supported by a philanthropic grant from the Paul Ramsay Foundation.</span></em></p>Despite a nearly 50% increase in the proportion of 25-to-34-year olds with a degree since 2008, the percentage of university students from under-represented equity groups has hardly changed.Sarah O'Shea, Professor and Director, National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1674392021-09-16T20:07:09Z2021-09-16T20:07:09ZLocal, face-to-face support offers a lifeline for uni students in regional and remote Australia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421298/original/file-20210915-12-5udrwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=229%2C0%2C1572%2C1046&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">CUC Far West</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For university students living out of reach of a campus and studying online, the growing presence of <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/regional-university-centres">Regional University Centres</a> is proving to be a lifeline in times of COVID-19. An early evaluation shows these centres in regional and remote Australia are highly effective in supporting students who have been historically under-represented at university and are at high risk of not completing courses. As one student said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I probably would not have persisted with the course if I had not seen [their centre’s learning skills adviser] to help me.” </p>
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<p>Managed locally by indepedent, not-for-profit boards formed from community members, the number of centres has grown to 26 around the country. These centres collaborate with universities to offer face-to-face learning communities for students in regional and remote areas. Within each centre are quiet study spaces, computers, internet, study support and the company of peers. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-can-put-city-and-country-people-on-more-equal-footing-at-uni-the-pandemic-has-shown-us-how-164492">We can put city and country people on more equal footing at uni — the pandemic has shown us how</a>
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<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421261/original/file-20210915-25-nejmvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of Australia showing distribution of 26 Regional University Centres" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421261/original/file-20210915-25-nejmvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421261/original/file-20210915-25-nejmvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421261/original/file-20210915-25-nejmvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421261/original/file-20210915-25-nejmvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421261/original/file-20210915-25-nejmvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421261/original/file-20210915-25-nejmvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421261/original/file-20210915-25-nejmvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.dese.gov.au/regional-university-centres">Department of Education, Skills and Employment</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<h2>Why are these centres needed?</h2>
<p>People in regional and remote Australia are <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/98861">about half as likely</a> as those living in major cities to have a university qualification. This educational divide starts early, with high school students from these areas being about <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/quality-schools-package/independent-review-regional-rural-and-remote-education">30% less likely</a> on average to complete year 12 than their city-based peers. </p>
<p>Yet <a href="https://journal.spera.asn.au/index.php/AIJRE/article/view/167">research indicates</a> this is not because these young people don’t want to go to university. Both the <a href="https://theconversation.com/four-barriers-to-higher-education-regional-students-face-and-how-to-overcome-them-49138">cost</a> and the physical and emotional <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1755458618302226?via%3Dihub">disruption of leaving home</a> are the key <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/publications/community-influence-university-aspirations/">barriers</a> for students and their families. </p>
<p>The pandemic has led to a greater <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/practice/covid-19/">appreciation and expansion of online learning</a>. It has given more regional and remote <a href="https://ajet.org.au/index.php/AJET/article/view/5504">students of all ages</a> the flexibility to stay and study within their local communities. Studying regionally is also <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/access-and-participation/resources/national-regional-rural-and-remote-tertiary-education-strategy-final-report">more likely to lead to regional work</a>, which boosts the local economy.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-regional-universities-and-communities-need-targeted-help-to-ride-out-the-coronavirus-storm-143355">Why regional universities and communities need targeted help to ride out the coronavirus storm</a>
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<p>The shift to online learning has thrust the challenges of online study into the spotlight. Until recently only a minority experienced these challenges. Now there is more awareness of the need to improve support for online students, including those outside major cities.</p>
<p>The challenges of online learning include <a href="https://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?p=5524">technology and internet connectivity</a> problems, which are more likely in regional and remote Australia. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10371656.2018.1472914">Isolation</a> from teachers and other students can be another barrier. </p>
<p>Regional University Centres are helping students to overcome these challenges.
At each of the centres, they can study, link up with other students, have access to high-speed internet and information technology and get help with their study skills. </p>
<p>Of the 26 centres across Australia, 13 are operating within the <a href="https://www.cuc.edu.au/">Country Universities Centre</a> (CUC) network. A student at one these centres said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I have unreliable internet as I live 20km from town. Having access to CUC has helped so much. I am more motivated to continue with my studies because I love going there.” </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Young man working at a computer" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421303/original/file-20210915-27-wkk5bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421303/original/file-20210915-27-wkk5bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421303/original/file-20210915-27-wkk5bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421303/original/file-20210915-27-wkk5bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421303/original/file-20210915-27-wkk5bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421303/original/file-20210915-27-wkk5bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421303/original/file-20210915-27-wkk5bv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The centres provide students with IT facilities and high-speed internet in areas where connectivity is often poor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CUC Parkes</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/will-australias-digital-divide-fast-for-the-city-slow-in-the-country-ever-be-bridged-60635">Will Australia's digital divide – fast for the city, slow in the country – ever be bridged?</a>
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<h2>Early evaluations show centres are effective</h2>
<p>The number of Regional University Centres has steadily increased around the country since 2018. This growth has been fuelled by community willpower and funded by a combination of governments and local industry. Early evidence from CUC evaluations is starting to show the positive impact on students. </p>
<p>One example is the <a href="https://www.cuc.edu.au/all_news/how-cuc-is-supporting-regional-students-to-succeed/">Learning Skills Advisor (LSA) program</a> begun in 2020 to provide generic academic skills sessions across the CUC network. The first in-house evaluation provides an interesting snapshot of the students who came to LSA sessions from March 2020 to July 2021, and of the impact of the program in general. </p>
<p>Students from government equity categories were strongly represented. They included students from low socioeconomic status (SES) (72%) and Indigenous (9%) backgrounds. As well, 53% were the first in their families to be at university, 65.5% were aged 25 and over, and 46% were studying part-time. </p>
<p>Other <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/publications/opportunity-online-learning-improving-student-access-participation-success-higher-education/">research</a> tells us that part-time, mature-age, low-SES, Indigenous and online students have been historically under-represented at university. If they do manage to get to university, they are more likely to withdraw without qualification. </p>
<p>The recent snapshot tells us the centres are reaching the students most at risk.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two female students at a Regional University Centre" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421265/original/file-20210915-13-z1tz3g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421265/original/file-20210915-13-z1tz3g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421265/original/file-20210915-13-z1tz3g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421265/original/file-20210915-13-z1tz3g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421265/original/file-20210915-13-z1tz3g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421265/original/file-20210915-13-z1tz3g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421265/original/file-20210915-13-z1tz3g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Regional University Centres are reaching groups of students who have been under-represented in higher education.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.dese.gov.au/newsroom/articles/keeping-it-local-regional-university-centres">Department of Education, Skills and Employment</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/where-are-the-most-disadvantaged-parts-of-australia-new-research-shows-its-not-just-income-that-matters-132428">Where are the most disadvantaged parts of Australia? New research shows it's not just income that matters</a>
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<h2>Student feedback is very positive</h2>
<p>The positive impacts of the LSA program are clear. The evaluation found:</p>
<ul>
<li>93% of participating students reported feeling more confident about their studies</li>
<li>96% were more motivated</li>
<li>97.5% achieved higher grades</li>
<li>95% were more likely to continue with their studies. </li>
</ul>
<p>Students said they found the practical information helpful. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I learned about different ways to look up information. There were ideas about how to arrange information and structure essays more efficiently.” </p>
<p>“I learned to reference as I go, add the reference to my bibliography as I found the source.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1427425555834564630"}"></div></p>
<p>As students’ confidence improved, so did their grades and their motivation to continue. Their responses make this clear:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Managed a HD/D average. I attribute this to the support I have received from [LSA].”</p>
<p>“Gave me the edge on exam day.”</p>
<p>“My confidence is up and my marks are following suit.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>They also valued having a space to study, with the facilities they need:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Perfect study space, away from distractions and everything that is needed right in the one place.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These preliminary evaluation findings are highly encouraging. They show that the right type of <a href="https://studentsuccessjournal.org/article/view/1312">locally available</a> support can encourage and motivate regional and remote students. Building their confidence and skills helps them to persist and succeed. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1267263474381381632"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-shows-there-is-still-a-long-way-to-go-in-providing-equality-in-education-80136">New research shows there is still a long way to go in providing equality in education</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A more formal evaluation of the CUC student experience is under way. The results are due to be published in early 2022. </p>
<p>The early results indicate that Regional University Centres are <a href="https://researchoutput.csu.edu.au/en/publications/pathway-to-success-for-rural-higher-education-students">successfully complementing</a> the online education universities are providing. The physical space, technology and face-to-face support the centres offer are making a difference. </p>
<p>This is a win-win, not only for students and universities, but also for the economic, social and educational capital of regional, rural and remote communities. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>The author acknowledges the help of Monica Davis, CEO, and Chris Ronan, Equity & Engagement Director, of the Country Universities Centre in the writing of this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167439/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cathy Stone consults with Country Universities Centre in her capacity as an independent consultant and researcher. She is also a researcher/author in other work cited within this article. </span></em></p>Community-run centres in regional and remote Australia are having positive impacts on students who were historically under-represented at university and at high risk of dropping out.Cathy Stone, Conjoint Associate Professor, School of Humanities & Social Science, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1644922021-07-27T19:54:05Z2021-07-27T19:54:05ZWe can put city and country people on more equal footing at uni — the pandemic has shown us how<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412838/original/file-20210723-15-1wdxuhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6016%2C4007&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-working-on-laptop-lies-next-1694985559">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>University study is out of reach for many people in regional Australia. Most of our universities are based in a handful of capital cities. The result is <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/publications/ncsehe-focus-successful-outcomes-for-regional-and-remote-students-in-australian-higher-education/">persistent educational inequity</a> between our capital cities and regions. </p>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic has forced universities to move their activities online. This shift has created <a href="https://theconversation.com/stressed-out-dropping-out-covid-has-taken-its-toll-on-uni-students-152004">challenges for students</a>, but has also temporarily erased the longstanding disparity in university access between cities and regions. <a href="https://theconversation.com/regional-australia-is-crying-out-for-equitable-access-to-broadband-69711">Internet connections permitting</a>, regional students have been able to participate on equal footing with their city colleagues.</p>
<p>As universities look to return to campus, the temptation is for city campuses to abandon the video link and rush back to business as usual. Yet this misses a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tackle longstanding inequities for regional students. The innovations in online delivery forced on universities by the pandemic now point to ways to permanently improve regional students’ access and experience of tertiary education. </p>
<p>Regional people – the <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/regional-population/latest-release">32% of Australians living outside a capital city</a> – are a recognised <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/practice/regional-and-remote-students">equity group</a> in higher education. They are <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/publications/ncsehe-briefing-note-equity-student-participation-australian-higher-education-2014-2019">less likely to attend university</a> than their metropolitan counterparts – only one in five Australian university students is from a regional area. And if born in a <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/d3310114.nsf/home/remoteness+structure">remote area</a>, they are only <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/NCSEHE-Briefing-Note_2019-20_Final.pdf">one-third as likely</a> to go to university as those born in a major city.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-shows-there-is-still-a-long-way-to-go-in-providing-equality-in-education-80136">New research shows there is still a long way to go in providing equality in education</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What obstacles do regional students face?</h2>
<p>The educational divide is the result of the multiple <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/publications/ncsehe-focus-successful-outcomes-for-regional-and-remote-students-in-australian-higher-education/">barriers to university access</a> that regional students face. Many of their <a href="https://www.gie.unsw.edu.au/research/rural-remote-and-regional-students">disadvantages</a> relate to the economic, social and cultural costs of <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/publications/regional-student-participation-and-migration-analysis-of-factors-influencing-regional-student-participation-and-internal-migration-in-australian-higher-education/">moving away from home to study</a>, particularly to a large and distant city. </p>
<p>Students face a raft of changes at once: they must leave family and community behind and fend for themselves in unfamiliar environments. Families must find money for housing and other costs. For “mature age” students who already have families and local commitments, moving away to study is often simply impossible.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/four-barriers-to-higher-education-regional-students-face-and-how-to-overcome-them-49138">Four barriers to higher education regional students face – and how to overcome them</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00343404.2021.1899156?journalCode=cres20">Regional university campuses</a> play an important role supporting equitable access to education. These campuses can offer great face-to-face study experiences, but many are small and have limited course options. </p>
<p>And across the width and breadth of Australia, we have few regional campuses. Most regional Australians do not live near a campus. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412784/original/file-20210723-27-1osnpmy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="map of Australia showing locations of university main campuses and other campuses" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412784/original/file-20210723-27-1osnpmy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412784/original/file-20210723-27-1osnpmy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412784/original/file-20210723-27-1osnpmy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412784/original/file-20210723-27-1osnpmy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412784/original/file-20210723-27-1osnpmy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412784/original/file-20210723-27-1osnpmy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412784/original/file-20210723-27-1osnpmy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/policy-submissions/teaching-learning-funding/university-campus-map/">Universities Australia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-regional-universities-and-communities-need-targeted-help-to-ride-out-the-coronavirus-storm-143355">Why regional universities and communities need targeted help to ride out the coronavirus storm</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Online study is often mooted as an alternative, but it often has <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/publications/online-learning-australian-higher-education">poorer outcomes than on-campus study</a>. Internet connectivity in regional areas can be <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-australias-digital-divide-fast-for-the-city-slow-in-the-country-ever-be-bridged-60635">a problem</a>, too. And online study can be isolating; new students in particular often need interaction and support to succeed.</p>
<p>To reduce these systemic inequities, we need to do regional education differently. </p>
<h2>We’ve had a glimpse of the solutions</h2>
<p>In response to the pandemic, many universities have moved coursework and community engagement activities fully online. Lectures, tutorials, seminars, workshops and even graduations have gone on-screen. While not the same as face-to-face interaction, these online engagements have had the unexpected benefit of opening access for those who previously couldn’t participate at all. </p>
<p>Universities have learned to use video conferencing and online platforms in new ways to maximise interactivity for students at a distance. In some cases “hybrid” activities mix face-to-face and digital participation all at once: some participants gather in the room and others join from the screen. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/digital-learning-is-real-world-learning-thats-why-blended-on-campus-and-online-study-is-best-163002">Digital learning is real-world learning. That's why blended on-campus and online study is best</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>When done well, with good technology and good manners, hybrid interactions are fluid and the hierarchy between “here” and “there” disappears. These hybrid activities suggest a new way to approach the challenge of providing university education across distance.</p>
<p>For the first time, regional students and communities have had access to activities and resources previously available only on capital city campuses. So long as internet connections are reliable, it no longer matters if the student is five kilometres from the city centre or 500. </p>
<p>Now, with universities planning to move back to campuses, we find ourselves at a vital crossroad. To bring campuses back to life, students are being urged back into classrooms. Video links disappear. Expectations of a physical presence on city campuses return. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1394207197995884546"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/where-are-the-most-disadvantaged-parts-of-australia-new-research-shows-its-not-just-income-that-matters-132428">Where are the most disadvantaged parts of Australia? New research shows it's not just income that matters</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A once-in-a-lifetime shot at equitable education</h2>
<p>For regional students, this “return to campus” means we risk reverting to inequity as usual. Policymakers and universities must not miss this window of opportunity to reduce longstanding inequities for regional students. We have a chance to retool our approach to make the <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/publications/student-equity-2030">future of higher education an equitable one</a>.</p>
<p>On a vast lightly populated continent like Australia, there will never be a university campus near every town. Yet university education can be hybrid, multi-sited and inclusive. There can be local places for students to gather and interact, and hybrid classrooms where students can join their preferred course without moving house. </p>
<p>A few towns already host spaces where regional students can enjoy in-person interactions with other students and academics. These also provide free work spaces and fast internet speeds – which students might not have at home. Regional university campuses, <a href="https://www.cuc.edu.au/">country university centres</a>, <a href="https://www.guc.edu.au/study-hubs-network-unites-to-deliver-university-to-regional-australia">regional study hubs</a> and even online centres and libraries can provide the infrastructure for a hybrid and multi-sited university presence that includes regional students on equal footing. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Frustrated looking man sits at laptop next to window" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412839/original/file-20210723-15-1wrovtm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412839/original/file-20210723-15-1wrovtm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412839/original/file-20210723-15-1wrovtm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412839/original/file-20210723-15-1wrovtm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412839/original/file-20210723-15-1wrovtm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412839/original/file-20210723-15-1wrovtm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412839/original/file-20210723-15-1wrovtm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Low-speed and unreliable internet connections frustrate many people trying to study online in regional Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/man-hoodie-sitting-behind-laptop-next-1713414793">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/will-australias-digital-divide-fast-for-the-city-slow-in-the-country-ever-be-bridged-60635">Will Australia's digital divide – fast for the city, slow in the country – ever be bridged?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>However, effective hybrid classrooms require buy-in and participation from all sites – including city campuses. There has to be a commitment to investing resources in <a href="https://theconversation.com/digital-learning-is-real-world-learning-thats-why-blended-on-campus-and-online-study-is-best-163002">excellent, interactive digital learning</a>. Local infrastructure and in-person academic support in regional towns need to be strengthened too.</p>
<p>As universities navigate the current <a href="https://theconversation.com/big-spending-recovery-budget-leaves-universities-out-in-the-cold-160439">landscape of scarcity and uncertainty</a>, there is a real risk regional students will drop off the radar. Before rushing back to business as usual, let’s consider the alternative: equitable access to education, no matter where you live.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164492/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robyn Eversole does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>People living outside our big cities face many obstacles to going to university, but the innovations during lockdowns have opened a door to permanently improving their access and experience of study.Robyn Eversole, Professor and Director, RegionxLink, Centre for Social Impact, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/949792018-04-15T05:12:55Z2018-04-15T05:12:55ZHow to solve Australia’s ‘rural school challenge’: focus on research and communities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214843/original/file-20180414-543-tx3r3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">To enhance the opportunities for children, we need to ensure we have vibrant and valued rural communities with a strong social and economic future.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The recent release of the <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/independent-review-regional-rural-and-remote-education">report of the independent review into rural, regional and remote education</a> provides a much-needed focus on the unique challenges and opportunities rural, regional and remote communities encounter. Ultimately, this is an issue of the place of these communities in contemporary Australian society.</p>
<p>The review was commissioned in March 2017, with the aim of improving education outcomes for rural students and their access to higher education. It sought to identify new and innovative approaches to achieve this.</p>
<p>The “rural school challenge” has existed since the advent of compulsory education. But this is the first major national report since the <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/rights-and-freedoms/projects/rural-and-remote-education-inquiry">Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Inquiry into rural and remote education</a> 18 years ago. Sadly, progress towards a more equitable educational experience, outcomes from schooling and access to higher education has been slow in the intervening years.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/educational-disadvantage-is-a-huge-problem-in-australia-we-cant-just-carry-on-the-same-74530">Educational disadvantage is a huge problem in Australia – we can't just carry on the same</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We cannot waste the opportunity this report provides to refocus our attention on Australia’s rural communities and the students in them.</p>
<h2>What does the report say?</h2>
<p>The report makes 11 recommendations, and identifies four priorities:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>establishing a national focus for regional, rural and remote education, training and research to enhance access, outcomes and opportunities</p></li>
<li><p>focusing on research for successful learning and building young people’s futures – school leadership, teaching, curriculum and assessment</p></li>
<li><p>addressing the information communication and technology needs in regional, rural and remote locations, and</p></li>
<li><p>focusing on the transitions into and out of school.</p></li>
</ol>
<h2>A national research programme</h2>
<p>The focus of research in two of these four priorities is important and timely. Here, the report highlights as much about what we don’t know as what we do know.</p>
<p>Australia has a vibrant and internationally renowned rural education research community. <a href="http://journal.spera.asn.au/index.php/AIJRE/issue/archive">There have been many studies here in Australia</a>, and overseas, that engage with the issues and ideas put forward in the report. But <a href="http://www.arc.gov.au/grants">research funding</a> has been declining in a tight budgetary environment. It has has also focused on issues of schooling only, including <a href="https://www.aitsl.edu.au">teacher quality</a>, <a href="https://www.nap.edu.au">NAPLAN</a> and <a href="http://www.acara.edu.au/curriculum">national curriculum</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214844/original/file-20180414-127631-o6zgv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214844/original/file-20180414-127631-o6zgv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214844/original/file-20180414-127631-o6zgv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214844/original/file-20180414-127631-o6zgv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214844/original/file-20180414-127631-o6zgv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214844/original/file-20180414-127631-o6zgv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214844/original/file-20180414-127631-o6zgv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We need to take a drastically different approach to attracting and retaining good teachers in rural communities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Through this time, much <a href="https://www.spera.asn.au/events/conferences/">rural, regional and remote education research has been highlighting the problem</a> with the “metro-centric” one-size-fits-all approaches preferred in public policy over the last two decades. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/standardised-tests-are-culturally-biased-against-rural-students-86305">Standardised tests are culturally biased against rural students</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Nonetheless, the resulting projects have identified strategies that work: attracting rural students into teaching, specifically <a href="http://www.rrrtec.net.au">preparing teachers for rural schools</a>, embedding curriculum in local contexts, innovative information and communication technology approaches to enhance curriculum access and new resourcing models, to name a few.</p>
<p>A national research focus will facilitate a unique opportunity to scale up innovations that exist in the sector. It will also ensure our focus is broadened from school-centric research to broadly-based rural education and community research. </p>
<p>We need a ten year focus, with significant and guaranteed funding to develop and implement a longitudinal research agenda. That might seem like a long while, but considering that a child is at school on average 13 years puts it in perspective. When we note the report makes recommendations related to early childhood education through to post-secondary education and training, we’re looking at approximately 22 years of a persons life.</p>
<p>A sustained, rigorous and funded national research program will confirm Australia’s leading international position in rural education research. The challenges we face are not unique to us, they are shared, for instance, by Canada, the US and China.</p>
<p>To activate this, we need to build a small group of five to ten specially trained researchers across the country dedicated to rural, regional and remote research. This leading group of researchers would be at the forefront of identifying success and “scaling this up” - using these insights in more communities and with a greater coverage. They can then provide a rolling review of the success of the implementation of the recommendations in the report.</p>
<h2>A return to equity</h2>
<p>The report places equity back in the centre of the educational agenda, rather than equality and resource redistribution. Through the sustained focus on rural, regional and remote, the report highlights these communities have unique needs that go beyond the funding they receive – though that remains important – and the school gate.</p>
<p>In doing so, it highlights the limitations of the “one size fits all” approach to public policy that has dominated until now. While such approaches might work on a national scale when the vast majority of the population live in major cities, the population outside that space get hidden among the averages.</p>
<p>For instance, the report highlights the need to ensure the relevance of the Australian Curriculum and its implementation for rural, regional and remote students. It reminds us there is another dimension beyond the <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/review-achieve-educational-excellence-australian-schools">Gonski 2.0 pre-occupation with the distribution of resources</a>. There is also what schools do with those resources, and how they tailor their work to meet the unique needs of their communities. This is where we need sustained and detailed research.</p>
<h2>The staffing challenge</h2>
<p>Meeting the unique needs of the community is only possible if there are appropriate teachers in the schools to do so. It’s not surprising, then, that the challenges of staffing are a major theme. <a href="http://journal.spera.asn.au/index.php/AIJRE/article/view/112">Many approaches have been tried throughout Australia</a> to train, attract and retain appropriate teachers for rural, regional and remote communities. If we’re going to ensure the equitable distribution of skilled teachers in these schools, we need to try something radically different.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-a-radical-rethink-of-how-to-attract-more-teachers-to-rural-schools-83298">We need a radical rethink of how to attract more teachers to rural schools</a>
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<h2>Beyond the school gate</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214842/original/file-20180414-127631-tx69y7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214842/original/file-20180414-127631-tx69y7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214842/original/file-20180414-127631-tx69y7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214842/original/file-20180414-127631-tx69y7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214842/original/file-20180414-127631-tx69y7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214842/original/file-20180414-127631-tx69y7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214842/original/file-20180414-127631-tx69y7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Challenges to rural education are largely influenced by factors outside the classroom.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>While critically important, the challenges of rural education go beyond getting the right teachers into the right school. They are largely influenced by factors outside the school gate, such as the local economy, employment opportunities and <a href="http://www.canberra.edu.au/research/faculty-research-centres/ceraph/regional-wellbeing">community well-being</a>.</p>
<p>This is an area of urgent further research. The report recognises educational achievement exists within the community and the local social and economic issues. But an understanding of how these interrelate in rural, regional and remote contexts remains undeveloped. </p>
<p>To enhance the opportunities for children, we need to ensure we have vibrant and valued rural communities with a strong social and economic future. Such communities are also attractive places for professions to relocate to, have a career and raise a family.</p>
<h2>Rural innovations need to be ‘rural’</h2>
<p>The report makes plain that the needs of rural, regional and remote communities are unique. This is a rural research agenda, not education research with a rural twist. As such, it’s crucial the government’s response, and researchers, heed the theme of the report – each community is distinct, and needs to be considered for what it offers. Then, by recognising this uniqueness, we can explore what innovations are scalable across different communities, and how they need to be tweaked to be successful in each new context.</p>
<p>There is already success in rural, regional and remote schooling. We need the courage to identify this success, understand it, and facilitate collective networking to grow this success.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94979/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Roberts receives funding from the Australian Government. He is Chief Editor of the 'Australian and International Journal of Rural Education'. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Hattie is the Chair of AITSL and receives research funding from the ARC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adrian Piccoli does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A government review of regional, rural and remote education tells us we need to recognise the uniqueness of and understand successes in these communities to improve outcomes for these students.Philip Roberts, Associate professor, University of CanberraAdrian Piccoli, Professor of Practice, School of Education, UNSW SydneyJohn Hattie, Professor, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/885372017-12-06T01:57:52Z2017-12-06T01:57:52ZA new approach to regional higher education is essential to our economic future<p>The 30% of Australians who live outside a capital city <a href="http://bcec.edu.au/assets/099068_BCEC-Educate-Australia-Fair-Education-Inequality-in-Australia_WEB.pdf">are experiencing a period of rapid change</a>. A new era of food and crop production prosperity is being driven by technological disruption and farm business consolidation. This is occurring alongside ballooning unemployment, poorer health outcomes, and social dislocation in regional communities. We need to find long-lasting solutions to this disparity.</p>
<p>Last financial year, agriculture was the <a href="http://www.northqueenslandregister.com.au/story/4998891/agriculture-is-one-of-the-fastest-growing-sectors/?cs=6025">largest contributor to Australia’s GDP growth</a> and the fastest-growing sector in the nation. Meanwhile, in October 2017, <a href="http://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/products/reports/reg-youth-unemployment/reg-youth-unemployment-201710.pdf">youth unemployment in outback Queensland</a> hit 59.2% at a time when employment rates in inner Brisbane for 15-24 year-olds were hovering at 6%. Youth unemployment sits around the 20% mark <a href="https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/researchpapers/Pages/NSW-regional-labour-force-data---interactive-portal.aspx">in many regional areas</a> across Australia.</p>
<p>The challenges facing regional Australia will not be solved by a single new mine, a quick job-creation scheme, or a flurry of bus tickets to the city. Instead, we need sustainable solutions that give regional Australians the chance to leave welfare behind, transform their job prospects and contribute to society as skilled workers. The best first step would be to give regional Australians better access to tertiary education. </p>
<h2>A problem for everyone</h2>
<p>The majority of Australia’s 40 universities operate regional campuses. From Broome to Burnie to Bundaberg, 25 Australian universities have them. There are 68 regional campuses in total, located in every state and territory, with the exception of the ACT. Most of these campuses undertake research in areas like precision agriculture, organics, aquaculture, medicinal cannabis production, plant genetics and plant science. They’re building expertise relevant to our agriculture-driven economic prosperity. Yet the people living around those campuses don’t all benefit from them.</p>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197896/original/file-20171206-31114-whxkz2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197896/original/file-20171206-31114-whxkz2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197896/original/file-20171206-31114-whxkz2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197896/original/file-20171206-31114-whxkz2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197896/original/file-20171206-31114-whxkz2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197896/original/file-20171206-31114-whxkz2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197896/original/file-20171206-31114-whxkz2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><a href="https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/australias-universities/key-facts-and-data#.WiVxWzdx3b0">Australia’s regional campuses</a> educate 20% of the nation’s tertiary students – more than 280,000 people. They could enrol many more, but proposed federal government policies would shut the door on many promising students. For example, <a href="https://theconversation.com/programs-that-prepare-students-for-university-study-may-no-longer-be-free-77851">proposals to make students pay for enabling places</a> would act as a strong disincentive to take up study in the first place. </p>
<p>The goal of providing university access to 40% of the population has largely been met in metropolitan centres. But most regional areas are <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features20July+2013">well below that participation target</a>. Often, they are barely halfway there. </p>
<p>Since budget loadings, benefitting all regional campuses, were introduced in 2004, <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/regional_loading_final_report.pdf">reviews</a> have recommended extra funding for students enrolled at a regional university. This was proposed in recognition of the extra costs of delivering appropriate learning and teaching and the need to deliver career opportunities to regional people. These loadings were applied but have been successively wound back since that time.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/four-barriers-to-higher-education-regional-students-face-and-how-to-overcome-them-49138">Four barriers to higher education regional students face – and how to overcome them</a>
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<p>The whittling away of regional loadings means such universities are at a substantial disadvantage. The current tertiary funding formula is too uniform. Students receive the same base level of funding for their degree in almost every case. This may suit a university with 50,000 students in a capital city. But it simply doesn’t cover the cost of many courses on much smaller campuses outside urban areas.</p>
<p>Regional universities also find it hard to attract international students, who provide important additional revenue to many metropolitan universities. </p>
<p>These factors mean it’s essential to prioritise the promise of economic sustainability and opportunity over the notion of higher education policy equality. Regional students merit more specific, targeted support across a range of degrees.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197897/original/file-20171206-31089-1rgzqvq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197897/original/file-20171206-31089-1rgzqvq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197897/original/file-20171206-31089-1rgzqvq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197897/original/file-20171206-31089-1rgzqvq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197897/original/file-20171206-31089-1rgzqvq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197897/original/file-20171206-31089-1rgzqvq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197897/original/file-20171206-31089-1rgzqvq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Agriculture makes a significant contribution to Australia’s economy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>A new regional deal</h2>
<p>A new approach to regional higher education would address many of these problems. Based on our research at Southern Cross University, I’ve suggested such an approach to the current federal government review into <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/independent-review-regional-rural-and-remote-education">regional, rural and remote education</a>. It would include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>10,000 Commonwealth supported enabling places for regional Australians, distributed according to regional need and demand</p></li>
<li><p>$50 million per year for four years to help all 25 universities with regional campuses catch up</p></li>
<li><p>a new regional loading, in recognition of the higher costs of regional education delivery.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>As the Regional Universities Network (<a href="http://www.run.edu.au/">the RUN group</a>) has advocated, regional university campuses need a new policy approach. Only regional universities can provide education <a href="http://www.latrobe.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/848985/La-Trobe-University-Regional-Contribution-Cadence-Economics.pdf">at a reasonable cost</a> without forcing people to face the upheaval of moving hundreds of kilometres, leaving family members behind and competing in the unaffordable housing markets of Sydney and Melbourne.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/clever-regional-unis-can-form-the-backbone-of-a-clever-country-10860">Clever regional unis can form the backbone of a clever country</a>
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<p>Local start-ups, local businesses, local health providers, and local arts performers all deserve a chance to thrive. A new funding approach will empower regional campuses to create more opportunities for the people they serve. It will help reduce inter-generational welfare dependence among a significant cohort of families, and bring additional income into communities. It will enable regional universities to educate more teachers, nurses, engineers and small business-people to work productively in their own backyards. Above all, it will translate that talent in the backyard to the front yard and then to the rest of the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88537/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Shoemaker serves on the board of the Regional Universities Network (RUN) of which Southern Cross University is a member.</span></em></p>Australia’s regional universities face many challenges that need to be addressed at a national level if we’re going to keep feeling the economic benefit from agriculture we felt last financial year.Adam Shoemaker, Vice Chancellor, Southern Cross UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/735092017-02-26T19:03:56Z2017-02-26T19:03:56ZThe typical university student is no longer 18, middle-class and on campus – we need to change thinking on ‘drop-outs’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158014/original/image-20170223-6422-1l5ocm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many students often work part-time and have family responsibilities. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The federal government released its latest <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/completion-rates-cohort-analyses">figures on completion rates</a> at Australian universities earlier this year. It shows that students who study off campus, are on a part-time course, are older, Indigenous, from disadvantaged backgrounds or regional areas of Australia are less likely to complete their university course.</p>
<p>Many journalists rushed to decry the “fact” that these “drop-out” rates in some universities <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/one-in-three-students-dropping-out-of-university-20170117-gtt63m.html">are shocking</a>. But, in addition to misunderstanding and therefore misrepresenting the data, the assumptions underpinning how completion rates are calculated are woefully out of date.</p>
<h2>Who is the average student?</h2>
<p>The current Australian student cohort is different from the one that many readers might imagine – and from the one that existed when mechanisms to measure attrition were created. </p>
<p>While a large number of students (670,000) are in the 18-22 years age bracket, <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/selected-higher-education-statistics-2015-student-data">latest available figures</a> from 2015 show there were over 181,000 students aged 30-39; almost 90,000 aged 40-49; over 36,000 aged 50-59; and almost 10,000 aged 60 and over. </p>
<p>As indicated by <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/student-data">government statistics on mode of attendance</a>, a growing number of university students have never actually set foot on a campus, having undertaken online and other external modes of study. </p>
<p>These same figures show an increasing number study part-time. Many start, stop and start university study over a very long time. Some <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/completion-rates-cohort-analyses">take almost a decade to complete a three-year degree</a>.</p>
<h2>How should this change how we measure drop-out rates?</h2>
<p>Despite the world having shifted and student bodies having changed significantly, we persist in measuring drop-out rates as if the whole Australian university sector is the same as it was last century. Back then, students were more commonly 18 years old, middle-class, child-free, unencumbered school-leavers who often had financial support from their family to attend university.</p>
<p>So how do we currently measure drop-out rates? Based on reports from individual higher education providers, the government annually counts the number of commencing students in year one at census date, then counts them again a year later, subtracting those who have graduated – and that calculation determines our attrition rates. </p>
<p>We do a second calculation that adjusts for students who move programs or universities but who are still in study.</p>
<p>Many assume that the people who aren’t there a year later have dropped out. Indeed, they may have. They may have done so permanently. But they may also have left temporarily, to come back to that program and institution, or others, at a later date.</p>
<p>That is certainly what students from working-class backgrounds who study at regional universities do. </p>
<p>A soon-to-be-released national study of these students found significant evidence that regional students dip in and out of study. On average, they take longer than metropolitan and higher socio-economic status students to complete their programs of study.</p>
<p>Calculating attrition rates in the way we currently do ignores those students who may have formally or informally withdrawn from university, but who may later return to study, as many working-class regional students do. </p>
<h2>Why do students drop out of study?</h2>
<p>This latest research shows that these students often have complex lives and competing priorities. </p>
<p>Many are parents and many have other caring responsibilities. They must balance academic study with these caring and related responsibilities, which often include the need for paid employment while studying.</p>
<p>Many are also the first in their family to attend university. This means they lack familiarity with the peculiarities of university life and expectations of them as students. It also means they are unlikely to receive financial support from their family.</p>
<p>While <a href="https://theconversation.com/better-academic-support-for-students-may-help-lower-university-attrition-rates-66395">better academic support</a> may help some students in some cases, the answer is not that simple.</p>
<p>Many of these students experience significant financial pressure. The costs of study materials, long-distance regional travel to university campuses on top of the usual expenses of living – including sometimes supporting a family, often while on a reduced income – mean they may have to make difficult choices about their priorities, choices that other more traditional students do not ever have to make. </p>
<p>The research shows that some students step out of study because they get a job that meets immediate short-term needs, such as paying for accommodation and food. </p>
<p>They often return to study later when the immediate needs are met. Rather than the full-time study load a traditional student would take, these students often take on a part-time load, sometimes the minimum load of one subject a semester. This is because that is all they can manage on top of their family, caring and/or employment responsibilities. </p>
<p>It is often not possible, nor desirable from a personal point of view, for these students to study full time, nor to complete their undergraduate program in a single time period, or within the minimum completion time.</p>
<h2>Our thinking needs to change</h2>
<p>The assumptions and mechanisms for measuring and monitoring attrition of students need to take into account the realities of all students’ experiences and responsibilities, and the choices they have to make about study in the context of their complex lives and competing priorities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73509/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marcia Devlin receives funding from the Higher Education Participation and Partnership Program National Priorities Pool and the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education.</span></em></p>How we calculate university drop-out rates must be amended to reflect the changing cohort of university students, who often dip in and out of study and take longer to complete their degree.Marcia Devlin AM, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Quality), Federation University AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/543802016-02-10T19:09:51Z2016-02-10T19:09:51ZLaying pathways for greater success in education for Indigenous Australians<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110915/original/image-20160210-3281-1phevqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Graduates of a 2015 Tertiary Entry Program, which paves the way into university courses, with lead author and CQUniversity's Pro Vice-Chancellor of Indigenous Engagement, Bronwyn Fredericks (fourth from left) and Provost Hilary Winchester (far right).</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/83593535@N04/17386287460/in/photostream/">Peter Lawrence/CQUniNewsPICs</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>The more we’re going to get into these universities, the more we’re going to get educated, which means the more the … Indigenous communities themselves are going to grow and close that gap. - A study participant in Rockhampton, Queensland. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Across Australia, Indigenous students consistently record lower rates of education <a href="http://closingthegap.dpmc.gov.au/chapter-02/index.html">at all levels</a> than the broader population, as shown again in the latest <a href="https://theconversation.com/closing-the-gap-and-keeping-the-faith-short-term-politics-adds-to-long-term-challenges-53820">Closing the Gap report</a>. </p>
<p>So if we’re serious about <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/review-higher-education-access-and-outcomes-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-people">addressing Indigenous disadvantage in education</a> and seeing Indigenous Australians fully participating in our society and economy, what more can we do? </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/publications/pathways-towards-best-practice-bridging-indigenous-participation-regional-dual-sector-universities/">new Path+Ways research</a>, released today by the <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/publications/pathways-towards-best-practice-bridging-indigenous-participation-regional-dual-sector-universities/">National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education</a>, shows the value of building bridges into formal education.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110896/original/image-20160210-3271-l72lh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110896/original/image-20160210-3271-l72lh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110896/original/image-20160210-3271-l72lh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110896/original/image-20160210-3271-l72lh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110896/original/image-20160210-3271-l72lh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110896/original/image-20160210-3271-l72lh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110896/original/image-20160210-3271-l72lh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110896/original/image-20160210-3271-l72lh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Enabling program students in Rockhampton with staff at the Allied Health Lab, CQUniversity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>You might have heard of “bridging”, “enabling” or, most commonly, “access education”. Those are all terms used to describe formal programs of study offered by tertiary institutions, in which learners can build study skills that will help them transition to formal study, be that vocational or higher education.</p>
<p>Anecdotally, <a href="https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/Subject-Index/Indigenous">universities already know</a> that access education is incredibly important in lifting Indigenous participation rates. Communities and Indigenous students have seen how they help too:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Supporting [access education] allows people in rural and remote communities to access this support to get them into university, we need more Indigenous students … coming out of universities with degrees. – A study participant in Darwin, Northern Territory. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, despite the considerable efforts by some universities to offer access education, there has been a clear lack of evidence underpinning the programs. </p>
<p>Where there is evidence about specific Indigenous programs, it is typically limited to course evaluation-style approaches, which tend to focus on students’ experiences and opinions of course content and delivery – rather than what people have learnt and the new skills they have acquired. </p>
<p>Our new research looked at what’s currently being done in Indigenous access programs at regional, dual-sector universities, and how those programs could be even better. </p>
<h2>Learning ‘both-ways’</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>The bridging program has definitely helped to expand and strengthen my identity, my confidence and my values as an Indigenous student and a person … each assignment that I do, each piece of knowledge that I’ve learnt … builds that confidence, my identity … and my history as that Indigenous person. - A female study participant in Rockhampton.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While access education is only a small slice of the lifelong education journey, it is a critically important one for many Indigenous people. </p>
<p>To get those programs right, our research showed how important it was to start with an understanding that students who lack a formal education can, and do, hold valuable knowledge. This is particularly true of Indigenous students, who bring unique perspectives to education and “knowing” by drawing on their cultural background and applying this to their study program.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110926/original/image-20160210-12175-f16ra.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110926/original/image-20160210-12175-f16ra.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110926/original/image-20160210-12175-f16ra.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110926/original/image-20160210-12175-f16ra.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110926/original/image-20160210-12175-f16ra.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110926/original/image-20160210-12175-f16ra.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110926/original/image-20160210-12175-f16ra.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110926/original/image-20160210-12175-f16ra.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students working together in a computer lab.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Including Indigenous culture in course content emerged as a key factor in building strength, increasing identity and a sense of place. In particular, most of the participants involved with our study – irrespective of whether they were male or female, or in Darwin, Ballarat or Rockhampton – noted that a lack of cultural understanding in access education programs impacted on their ability to learn. </p>
<p>Our research also found that recognition of Indigenous people as “yarners” and “story tellers” needs consideration when developing curriculum, as does incorporating “<a href="http://livingknowledge.anu.edu.au/html/educators/07_bothways.htm">both-ways</a>” methodologies, which incorporate both Indigenous and non-Indigenous knowledge.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It enabled me to learn [how] I learn best and that was hugely beneficial … it enabled me to become an avid learner and to succeed [in] my current studies. - A study participant in Rockhampton.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>More than one way to succeed</h2>
<p>Perhaps the single most important thing we found through talking to our participants is that we need to rethink our idea of what “educational success” means. Simply measuring whether someone finishes a course, or moves from a vocational training course into a university, is missing a much bigger picture.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[Success is] about self-esteem, growing, being strong in your identity, understanding what the Western educational system is, gaining other sorts of employment or opportunities for employment … It broadens students’ ideas for career pathways, it helps students find their voice, it helps them be able to write, so there’s [many] levels of success mapped within that, that we as a university don’t call an actual success. - A study participant who teaches in a university enabling program.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When the people in our study talked about success, they said it meant improved confidence, a stronger sense of identity, gaining employment, improved engagement with the broader community, expanded learning capacity, entry into a vocational or higher education program, and, of course, the most easily measurable success: completing a vocational or higher education program.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve always felt a little intimidated by the thought of … university. The bridging program has eased a lot of that anxiety and stress, so I’m actually … enjoying my learning experiences now … the value of what I’ve been learning has been monumental … and … has made me feel ten times better about myself as a learner. - A study participant in Darwin.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We need to attract, retain, challenge, include and inspire more Indigenous Australians through education. As our research shows, a good place to start would be to paying more attention to what Indigenous students tell us about what a successful education means to them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54380/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bronwyn Fredericks received funding from the National Centre for Student Equity and Higher Education (NCSEHE) for this project. Bronwyn is a member of the ARC funded National Indigenous Research and Knowledges Network (NIRAKN), the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA). This study was conducted by CQUniversity and funded by the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE). Universities involved in the project included CQUniversity, Charles Darwin University and Federation University.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carolyn Daniels received funding from the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education for this project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan Kinnear received funding from the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education for this project. She has received research funding from various local, state and Commonwealth governments as well as industry and business organisations during the past fifteen years. Susan is a member of the Regional Studies Association (International).</span></em></p>If we’re serious about closing the gap in Indigenous education, our new research shows the value of building better bridges into universities and vocational education.Bronwyn Fredericks, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Engagement) & BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) Chair in Indigenous Engagement, CQUniversity AustraliaCarolyn Daniels, Research Officer, CQUniversity AustraliaSusan Kinnear, Dean of Graduate Studies; Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Tourism and Regional Development , CQUniversity AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/491382015-10-27T19:18:03Z2015-10-27T19:18:03ZFour barriers to higher education regional students face – and how to overcome them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99267/original/image-20151022-15424-17rlhp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Regional students won’t necessarily be able to access the course they want to study. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Regional students face major challenges studying in higher education. While over the past five years overall <a href="http://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/review_of_the_demand_driven_funding_system_report_for_the_website.pdf">numbers have increased</a>, regional students remain underrepresented in Australian universities.</p>
<p>So why is it so tough for regional students? What are the main obstacles and how can we tackle these issues?</p>
<p>Here’s what the research tells us: </p>
<h2>Smaller campuses and less choice</h2>
<p>Regional universities have been established to bring higher education to regional Australia, recognising the importance of local delivery. </p>
<p>While regional universities maintain high levels of student <a href="http://www.qilt.edu.au/">satisfaction and strong employment outcomes</a>, regional campuses servicing smaller population catchments cannot offer the breadth of courses that are available in major cities. </p>
<p>Getting those regional school leavers with high grades to stay in regional areas is also a challenge. These students tend to <a href="http://m.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/melbourne-uni-study-finds-spend-effect-can-cost-students/story-e6frgcjx-12267163603540">move to the city</a> to pursue courses with entry cut-offs that match their ATAR grade. Greater competition for courses in major cities generally results in higher thresholds for entry.</p>
<h2>Cost of living</h2>
<p>Even when a campus is nearby, many students will need to relocate, commute long distances, or undertake distance education to access their course of choice. </p>
<p>Distance education has always played a role in regional higher education, but recent work highlights that students who study online are <a href="http://research.acer.edu.au/higher_education/43/">less likely to complete their degrees</a>. </p>
<p>For those who relocate, <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/campaign-to-give-rural-students-greater-support/story-e6frgcjx-1227567913997">cost-of-living expenses are a major barrier</a> and are shouldered by communities where wages are on average lower and capacity to pay is constrained.</p>
<p>As a guide to what these living costs are, the Australian government requires <a href="https://www.studyinaustralia.gov.au/global/live-in-australia/living-costs">international students to demonstrate funds of around $18,600 per year</a> to meet costs of living. </p>
<p>For Australian students over the age of 18 who live away from home, the full rate of Youth Allowance paid <a href="http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/centrelink/youth-allowance/payment-rates">is around $426 per fortnight</a>, equating to $11,000 per year. This amount begins to taper when annual parental income exceeds around $51,000. </p>
<p>Clearly there is a significant gap between what is considered a minimum cost of living for international students and the full rate of student income support. </p>
<p>For regional students transitioning to residential colleges or the accommodation rental market, living on $11,000 is a serious challenge. The challenges are markedly different to city counterparts who can continue to live at home. </p>
<p>Adjustments to student income support policy to provide more viable financial support would assist many students, as would improved access to affordable accommodation. </p>
<h2>Higher transport costs</h2>
<p>Many regional students will commute to undertake study and face considerably higher transport costs. </p>
<p>In recognising this, a recent National Centre for Vocational Education <a href="http://hdl.voced.edu.au/10707/352409">report</a> recommends replacing public transport subsidies with fuel subsidies for regional students where there are no public transport options. This would provide more equitable support for transport. </p>
<h2>Poor investment in regional schools</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Chapter6002008">Australian Bureau of Statistics data</a> shows that fewer students complete year 12 in regional communities when compared with students nationally.</p>
<p>As with most forms of educational disadvantage, the major long-term solution to regional university participation lies with improving earlier levels of education – this is the key to helping more students <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-4932.2009.00570.x/abstract">be in a position to apply to university</a>.</p>
<p>As the 2011 <a href="http://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/review-of-funding-for-schooling-final-report-dec-2011.pdf">Gonksi report</a> revealed, we do not invest nearly enough funds in regional schools to drive higher levels of school achievement. </p>
<p>The preliminary findings of our research into the <a href="http://www.latrobe.edu.au/aaru/external-grants/national-priorities-pool">adaptation of tertiary admissions practices</a> highlight that regional school students are often unsure of how to navigate the complex admissions process. </p>
<h2>What are the solutions?</h2>
<p>Early childhood and school-based interventions may improve school achievement and higher education participation. Universities can work closely with these lower levels of education to raise student awareness, aspiration and achievement.</p>
<p><a href="http://m.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/john-dewar-lift-participation-with-sub-bachelor-degrees/story-e6frgcjx-1227549540806">Opening up sub-bachelor places</a> (such as associate degrees) for regional students could provide more flexible and supportive pathways into higher education. </p>
<p>Where local study, commuting or relocation are not possible, blended and online learning must also be part of the solution. However, we need to improve support for students who undertake blended and online education if we are to improve retention and completion rates. </p>
<p>The Coalition <a href="http://www.liberal.org.au/latest-news/2013/02/28/tony-abbott-press-release-coalitions-online-higher-education-working-group">consulted extensively on online education when in opposition</a>. More online provision would expand the breadth of course offerings and assist some regional students who cannot afford to travel. </p>
<p>Increasing the supply of education will only work, however, if the demand is there.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49138/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matt Brett works for La Trobe University which has campuses based in regional Victoria.
Matt is also involved in Department of Education and Training Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Programme (HEPPP) National Priorities Pool Projects that included consideration of regional higher education issues, including: Critical Interventions Framework II; The Adaptation of Tertiary Admissions Equity Practices to Growth and Diversity; and, Enabling courses for SES student groups.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Sheridan works for the University of New England, based in Armidale, NSW. She is a member of the project team involved in the Department of Education and Training Higher Education and Participation and Partnerships Programme (HEPPP) National Priorities Pool project 'The Adaptation of Tertiary Admissions Equity Practices to Growth and Diversity', which includes consideration of regional higher education issues. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Harvey works for La Trobe University which has campuses based in regional Victoria. Andrew is also involved in Department of Education and Training Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Programme (HEPPP) National Priorities Pool projects that include consideration of regional higher education issues including: Critical Interventions Framework II; The Adaptation of Tertiary Admissions Equity Practices to Growth and Diversity; Gloablisation and Student Equity, and; Enabling courses for SES student groups. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Buly Cardak works for La Trobe University which has campuses based in regional Victoria. He receives funding from the National Center for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE) and the Department of Education and Training, Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Programme (HEPPP) National Priorities Pool Projects.</span></em></p>High school drop-out rates combined with costly travel and living expenses puts regional students at a disadvantage when applying to universities in Australia.Matt Brett, PhD Candidate and Senior Manager, Higher Education Policy, La Trobe UniversityAlison Sheridan, Head, UNE Business School, University of New EnglandAndrew Harvey, Director, Access and Achievement Research Unit, La Trobe UniversityBuly Cardak, Associate Professor, Department of Economics and Finance, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.