tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/scholarships-10670/articlesscholarships – The Conversation2024-02-19T13:36:32Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2235312024-02-19T13:36:32Z2024-02-19T13:36:32ZFAFSA website meltdown: How to avoid additional frustration with financial aid applications<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576239/original/file-20240216-16-d8twal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5455%2C3628&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some colleges are extending the traditional May 1 deadline for students to accept offers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/woman-with-digital-tablet-having-problems-royalty-free-image/832996896?phrase=paying+for+college+stressed+out&adppopup=true">valentinrussanov via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Congress passed the <a href="https://studentaid.gov/help-center/answers/article/fafsa-simplification-act">FAFSA Simplification Act in 2020</a>, it was touted as making it easier for more families to access the government funding they need to send their children to college. But as recent events have shown, it actually <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/frustration-all-around-the-fafsas-rocky-rollout">made things more complicated, frustrating and confusing</a>.</p>
<p>While the new federal student aid form – known as the FAFSA – is <a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/student-loans/fafsa-changes-what-you-need-to-know/#:%7E:text=The%20new%20FAFSA%20application%20requires,one%20has%20less%20than%2050.">much shorter and requires less manual entry</a> of tax information, there were glitches and delays in rolling it out, as with many new websites.</p>
<p>Initially, families could access the FAFSA only for a limited time during a “<a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/admissions/traditional-age/2024/01/03/fafsa-soft-launch-vexes-families-and-counselors">soft launch” period in December</a>.</p>
<p>Now the form is accessible to families for them to complete, but the data is not flowing out to schools and colleges. Applicants are also discovering another problem. Often, students and parents may need to consult other documents or each other as part of the application process, so they will pause their application to complete it later. However, after initially logging into the FAFSA website, many students and parents experienced difficulty when returning to finalize their submission. The simplified FAFSA application has been online since the end of December, but users are still <a href="https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/topics/fafsa-simplification-information/2024-25-fafsa-issue-alerts">experiencing some problems</a>.</p>
<p>The Department of Education’s student aid calculations have also been delayed as it incorporates a <a href="https://financialaidtoolkit.ed.gov/tk/announcement-detail.jsp?id=fafsa-changes-student-aid-index">new formula</a> intended to expand eligibility for financial aid. The department also <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/12/01/fafsa-income-allowance-protection-calculation-error/">made an error</a> in the formula when adjusting for inflation. The calculations used for the determination of aid eligibility had been based on outdated consumer price index rules from 2020 but have since been corrected. All of this has delayed sending aid calculations to schools. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://drexel.edu/news/archive/2023/November/Dawn-Medley-to-join-Drexel-as-SVP-for-Enrollment-Management">longtime college administrator</a> who has developed programs to improve access to higher education, I see this situation as a well-intentioned but poorly executed effort. Ultimately, I believe the changes to FAFSA will help more students realize their dream of earning a degree, but this year I’m afraid it may cause many to abandon it.</p>
<p>To better understand the situation and what might come next, it helps to know how the government and schools work together to provide financial aid.</p>
<h2>Measuring ability to pay</h2>
<p>The Department of Education <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/102nd-congress/senate-bill/1150">created the Free Application for Federal Student Aid in 1992</a> to determine how much the federal government believes a family can contribute for a child’s college education. To be eligible for <a href="https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/grants/pell">Pell Grants</a>, <a href="https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/work-study">federal work-study</a> or even <a href="https://studentaid.gov/help-center/answers/article/how-to-apply-for-federal-student-loan">student loans</a>, students and families must complete the FAFSA. </p>
<p>Submitting the FAFSA prompts the Department of Education to set the amount it will offer in loans and other federal funding. The department then sends that information to the schools to which a student has applied. From there, the schools determine what additional financial aid they can provide. The schools make a final offer of financial assistance, called an award notice or award letter, to prospective students. Typically, this process takes a couple of months, and students <a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/student-loans/financial-aid-award-letter/">can expect to receive their award letter</a> from schools by the end of March, depending on when they filled out the FAFSA.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">What happens after submitting your FAFSA form?</span></figcaption>
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<p>On Feb. 13, 2024, the Department of Education announced <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/amid-fafsa-delays-education-dept-will-reduce-verification-requirements-for-aid-applicants">a temporary fix</a> intended to shorten the department’s application review process, which would enable schools to make their offers sooner.</p>
<h2>Extensions granted</h2>
<p>In the meantime, some institutions have taken steps to alleviate stress and provide more clarity to applicants. Many schools have chosen to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2024/02/14/dc-colleges-extend-admissions-deadline-fafsa-delay/">extend students’ time</a> to accept their offer, moving from the traditional deadline of May 1, which is known as <a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/education/student-resources/college-decision-day/#:%7E:text=Each%20year%2C%20National%20Decision%20Day,might%20enforce%20different%20decision%20deadlines.">National Decision Day</a>, to May 15 or even June 1. </p>
<p>Some have created their own <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/08/business/fafsa-delays-financial-aid.html">mini FAFSA application</a> to shortcut the aid application process; others are using their own aid calculators. Drexel University, where I oversee financial aid, has decided to forgo the FAFSA process and make a final offer based on another profile on a platform called <a href="https://cssprofile.collegeboard.org/">College Scholarship Service</a> that applicants complete.</p>
<p>None of these solutions is perfect. My peers and I are concerned that the frustration and confusion will lead students, <a href="https://www.the74million.org/article/fafsa-delays-raise-concerns-some-students-will-miss-out-on-college-aid/">particularly those who are the first in their families</a> to go to college, to walk away from higher education altogether.</p>
<p>Students and families should now expect schools to communicate regularly, provide clear and concise information, and encourage students to fill out both a College Scholarship Service profile and a FAFSA if they haven’t already. The financial aid process is complicated, but it’s the responsibility of schools to distill it into a set of simple steps for their applicants.</p>
<h2>Practical tips</h2>
<p>Here are a few tips for students and their families going though this process right now:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Families should communicate with schools to see whether they are able to receive official offers based on net price calculators, College Scholarship Service profiles or school-created solutions. Students can do this via the schools’ websites, texting, email or even phoning. </p></li>
<li><p>If families do not have a guaranteed award from a school, they should ask for a deposit deadline extension so they have the full information they need to make a decision.</p></li>
<li><p>Institutions want to assist and support students through this period of uncertainty, so don’t be afraid to ask questions and stay in touch with the experts who have the most updated information.</p></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223531/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dawn Medley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A college administrator offers insights into the rocky rollout of the Department of Education’s supposedly ‘simplified’ financial aid form.Dawn Medley, Senior Vice President of Enrollment Management, Drexel UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1763832022-03-17T14:29:01Z2022-03-17T14:29:01ZHow China is using scholarships to shape Indonesian Muslim students’ views<p>China has expanded its soft-power clout in Indonesia in recent years to accompany its growing economic and political foothold in Indonesia. One of these endeavours is courting Muslim students, known as “Santri”, with scholarships. </p>
<p>This is part of China’s ongoing efforts to maintain its positive image, while ensuring its policies on religion, including its <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-an-independent-tribunal-came-to-rule-that-china-is-guilty-of-genocide-against-the-uyghurs-173604">mistreatment of the Uyghurs</a> in Xinjiang, is seen from the perspective of China alone.</p>
<p>China has been offering scholarships to Indonesians for years. However, the more active targeting of the Santri community is very recent. It follows the implementation of <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2019/07/where-is-indonesia-on-chinas-belt-and-road-initiative/">China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)</a> and <a href="https://theaseanpost.com/article/rising-anti-chinese-sentiment-indonesia">news about China’s discrimination against the Uyghurs</a>, which has drawn criticism from many Indonesians.</p>
<p>Many of these students are now <a href="https://radarmadura.jawapos.com/features/22/05/2021/kuliah-ke-tiongkok-tak-otomatis-jadi-komunis">writing</a> in local media to promote the idea that “religious freedom” is ensured in China. They are associating the Xinjiang region, home to the Uyghurs, with insurgency as China does.</p>
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Baca juga:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/3-ways-china-is-growing-its-media-influence-in-indonesia-174339">3 ways China is growing its media influence in Indonesia</a>
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<p>They now also <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5hWcQCi9RY&list=PLnzjO2sF1s6Bi6G6cYHKwqbkwqh74Vf9P">speak</a> about China in a positive way in the country’s mainstream media. Some have even <a href="https://tajukonline.com/2018/12/23/surat-terbuka-untuk-hmi-yang-unjuk-rasa-bela-muslim-uighur-di-cina/">condemned</a> Muslim students who <a href="https://www.thinkchina.sg/chinas-islamic-diplomacy-indonesia-seeing-results">called for a boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics</a> or who protest against China’s policy towards Xinjiang.</p>
<p>A recent peer-reviewed study <a href="https://journal.uny.ac.id/index.php/jss/article/view/34604">reveals</a> a shifting of views among members of Muhammadiyah, Indonesia’s second-largest Muslim organisation, who reside in China, the majority of them students. Their social media activities have begun to present a more positive image of China.</p>
<h2>China is targeting Indonesia’s Muslim students</h2>
<p>Although precise data are difficult to find, it is reported that China is the second top destination for Indonesian students. The latest data in 2019 from the Indonesian embassy in Beijing <a href="https://siarilmu.com/2020/01/17/china-tambah-kuota-beasiswa-indonesia-menjadi-3-000-mahasiswa/">recorded</a> 15,780 Indonesians studying in China.</p>
<p>These scholarships have taken many forms, although most students receive the Chinese Government Scholarship (CGS).</p>
<p>The most important is the one <a href="https://nu.or.id/nasional/lptnu-kembali-buka-beasiswa-studi-master-dan-doktor-di-tiongkok-LUiEi">provided to the largest Islamic organisation</a> in Indonesia, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), to allow NU-affiliated students to pursue education in China.</p>
<p>These students are spread across several Chinese universities. As their number increased, they even founded the NU China chapter (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/pcinu_tiongkok/?hl=en"><em>PCINU Tiongkok</em></a>).</p>
<p>The scholarship holders also organise various events in China such as webinars and <a href="https://www.laduni.id/post/read/63347/pergumulan-santri-indonesia-di-tiongkok-pcinu-tiongkok-bedah-buku">book launches</a>. One example was on Santri Day in 2020, when NU China <a href="https://www.ngopibareng.id/read/nu-kuatkan-relasi-indonesia-tiongkok-ini-model-diplomasi-santri-365652">held</a> a webinar on the roles of Santri in strengthening China-Indonesia relations.</p>
<p>Students also frequently attend Beijing-orchestrated events such as <a href="https://mediaindonesia.com/opini/391853/diplomasi-santri-melihat-islam-dan-kemajuan-tiongkok">the Xinjiang Brief Forum</a>. The forum was specifically designed to invite Muslims outside China and advise them on how to communicate the Xinjiang issue to their respective communities. </p>
<p>During the events, students <a href="https://mediaindonesia.com/opini/391853/diplomasi-santri-melihat-islam-dan-kemajuan-tiongkok">agreed</a> that the Xinjiang issue needs to be seen “comprehensively”, choosing not to believe Western media reports.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Indonesian Muslim students who went to study in China are actively engaged in Indonesian mainstream media to present China in a positive light.</span></figcaption>
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<p>NU China was also <a href="https://mediaindonesia.com/opini/391853/diplomasi-santri-melihat-islam-dan-kemajuan-tiongkok">invited</a> to the China-Indonesia Symposium on Islamic Culture in Quanzhou in Wuhan in 2019 and 2020. The event is hosted by the Fujian government together with Huaqiao University and the China-Indonesia People-to-People Exchange Development Forum. It has become a forum for sharing the views of academics, practitioners and officials on Indonesia-China relations.</p>
<p>The NU-led news website, NU Online, <a href="https://www.nu.or.id/post/read/105921/tak-sulit-menemukan-makanan-halal-untuk-berbuka-puasa-di-china">publishes</a> articles that seem to paint a picture of a peaceful and comfortable life for Muslims living in China.</p>
<p>As well as NU, China has also <a href="https://siarilmu.com/2020/06/08/ini-peluang-beasiswa-kuliah-di-china/">offered</a> scholarships to Muhammadiyah. Even though the precise number is not reported, this effort appears to have borne fruit. These scholarship holders are <a href="https://journal.uny.ac.id/index.php/jss/article/view/34604">starting to sing the praises of Beijing</a>. </p>
<p>There are even short-term scholarships. In 2019, for instance, Beijing <a href="https://kabar24.bisnis.com/read/20191128/79/1175333/pemerintah-china-menawarkan-beasiswa-untuk-santri-indonesia">offered</a> scholarships to Santris to visit the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region to see the lives of Muslims in the area.</p>
<p>China has also <a href="https://kemlu.go.id/portal/id/read/824/berita/delegasi-santri-indonesia-goes-to-china-untuk-terus-menyemai-benih-perdamaian-dunia">collaborated</a> with Indonesia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to send several Indonesian students to visit China in the “Santri For World Peace, Goes to China” program.</p>
<p>These students met representatives of various state-led institutions, including the China Islamic Association (CIA), to hear the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) version of the “Islam in China” story. </p>
<p>On a visit in 2019, for example, CIA’s leading figure claimed the relationship between Chinese Muslims and the Chinese government was very good. </p>
<p>Earlier in 2013, around 60 Santris from <a href="https://pmarrisalah.ac.id">Ar-Risalah Islamic boarding school</a> in East Java were invited to attend a summer school in Hangzhou. Nurul Jadid Islamic boarding school in Central Java also <a href="http://psdr.lipi.go.id/news-and-events/opinions/dari-pondok-ke-tiongkok-diaspora-santri-nurul-jadid-ke-negeri-tirai-bambu.html">reported</a> that a number of its students had received scholarships to study in China.</p>
<p>Over the years, China has <a href="https://en.antaranews.com/news/139848/china-increases-scholarship-quota-to-3000-for-indonesian-students">said</a> it will continue to provide scholarships to Indonesian Muslim students. </p>
<p>Last year, for instance, the Ningxia Autonomous Region <a href="https://www.antaranews.com/berita/2252670/ningxia-tawarkan-beasiswa-untuk-santri-indonesia">promoted</a> its scholarship program to the Indonesian Santri community under the banner “Graduates from Islamic boarding schools in Indonesia can study technology and business at Ningxia University”.</p>
<p>These scholarships are not only being promoted by Chinese representatives, but also by alumni through seminars and conferences. Many of these are <a href="https://majt.or.id/tag/majt/">held</a> in mosques and Islamic universities.</p>
<h2>Countering Beijing’s narrative</h2>
<p>These Santri, who are well-versed in Islam’s concept of brotherhood, should speak out more about the plight of Xinjiang Uyghurs. They should not believe Beijing’s narrative, given that many <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/19/break-their-lineage-break-their-roots/chinas-crimes-against-humanity-targeting">human rights organisations</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-an-independent-tribunal-came-to-rule-that-china-is-guilty-of-genocide-against-the-uyghurs-173604">independent panels</a> and even <a href="https://www.mepanews.com/exclusive-interview-with-uyghur-activist-arslan-hidayat-about-east-turkistan-41797h.htm">survivors</a> from Xinjiang have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/16/world/asia/china-xinjiang-documents.html">confirmed</a> China’s discrimination against the Uyghurs.</p>
<p>To date, it is difficult to find reports of these Santri ever confronting Beijing about the Uyghur issue. </p>
<p>The Santri community should use their time in China to learn more about the Uyghur struggle and the community’s actual living conditions, as well as lobbying the Indonesian government and leading figures to issue a strong statement on China’s Xinjiang policy.</p>
<p>One alternative is to write an open letter to China, urging it to halt its Xinjiang policies, as well as to Jakarta, to put pressure on China. This message can also be sent to other Santris around the world as well as relevant non-governmental organisations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176383/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat tidak bekerja, menjadi konsultan, memiliki saham, atau menerima dana dari perusahaan atau organisasi mana pun yang akan mengambil untung dari artikel ini, dan telah mengungkapkan bahwa ia tidak memiliki afiliasi selain yang telah disebut di atas.</span></em></p>In recent years, the Chinese government has used scholarships to shape the views of Indonesian Muslim students on controversial issues such as the mistreatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, Assistant Professor in International Relations, Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII) YogyakartaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1657352021-11-12T13:35:16Z2021-11-12T13:35:16ZHip-hop’s love-hate relationship with education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430530/original/file-20211105-9517-1db2p2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C0%2C4310%2C2888&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hip-hop has always criticized America's education system. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/inductee-jay-z-speaks-onstage-during-the-36th-annual-rock-news-photo/1350353846?adppopup=true"> Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The richest men in hip-hop never finished college.</p>
<p>Jay-Z – who is regarded as <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/03/forbes-jay-z-is-now-hip-hops-first-billionaire.html">hip-hop’s first billionaire</a> – <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/billionaires-who-didnt-graduate-high-school-jay-z-richard-branson">never graduated from high school</a>.</p>
<p>Ye – who is considered <a href="https://www.nme.com/news/music/kanye-west-is-now-hip-hops-second-billionaire-according-to-forbes-2653542">hip-hop’s second billionaire</a> and was formerly known as Kanye West – was a <a href="https://consequence.net/2015/05/college-dropout-kanye-west-finally-receives-his-degree/">college dropout</a>, as he <a href="https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/the-college-dropout-kanye-west-album/">titled his debut album</a>.</p>
<p>So was Dr. Dre – another hip-hop icon and a <a href="https://wealthygorilla.com/dr-dre-net-worth/">near billionaire</a> – who <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-06-14/dr-dre-jimmy-iovine-hated-school-now-seeking-change-they-are-launching-one-in-south-l-a">left college</a> after just two weeks.</p>
<p>Ditto for <a href="https://www.universityherald.com/articles/37026/20160811/p-diddy-net-worth-college-drop-out-honorary-doctorate.htm">Diddy</a> – <a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/9566868/sean-diddy-combs-changes-name-love/">now known as “Love”</a> – who dropped out of Howard University <a href="https://www.complex.com/music/2014/04/puffy-daddy-howard-university-commencement-speech">after two years</a>.</p>
<p>Despite their lack of college degrees, these four men – who are currently the <a href="https://www.universitymagazine.ca/the-richest-rappers-in-the-world-2021/">richest rappers in the world</a> – have all taken a keen interest in higher education. </p>
<p>Dre, for instance, along with former record producer Jimmy Iovine, <a href="https://news.usc.edu/50816/jimmy-iovine-and-dr-dre-give-70-million-to-create-new-academy-at-usc/">donated US$70 million</a> to the University of Southern California to establish the <a href="https://iovine-young.usc.edu/">USC Iovine and Young Academy</a>, which focuses on arts, technology and innovation. The pair are also seeking to open a <a href="https://www.nme.com/news/music/dr-dre-and-jimmy-iovine-are-opening-a-new-high-school-in-la-2970784">similarly themed high school</a> in Los Angeles in 2022.</p>
<p>Diddy in 2016 donated <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/sean-diddy-combs-howard-university-1-million-donation-article-1.2802595">$1 million to Howard University </a> to help students who were struggling to pay off their student debt.</p>
<p>West has, at least historically, made education a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137395825_5">central theme of his music</a>. He also donated money to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/04/entertainment/kanye-west-two-million-dollar-donation/index.html">fully cover the college tuition of George Floyd’s daughter</a>, Gianna Floyd.</p>
<p>Jay-Z has created a <a href="https://www.shawncartersf.com/">scholarship foundation</a> that has <a href="https://www.diverseeducation.com/international/article/15093555/jay-z-helping-students-discover-the-world">sent students to study abroad</a> and has also – along with his wife, Beyoncé – donated <a href="https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/triad/news/2021/10/12/bennett-college-to-receive-money-from-beyonc--and-jay-z-s-scholarship-program">$2 million for scholarships</a> to support students at historically Black colleges and universities.</p>
<p>Whatever one makes of the fact that these men – who all turned their backs on higher education decades ago – would turn around and use their fame and fortune to invest millions of dollars in a college education for others, their stories represent only a glimpse of hip-hop’s complicated relationship with education.</p>
<p>As one who <a href="https://www.mills.edu/faculty/nolan-jones.php">studies the use of hip-hop in educational settings</a>, I have identified at least three ways hip-hop views formal education.</p>
<h2>1. Schools are anti-Black</h2>
<p>A 2005 study concluded that “from the perspective of rap music, the [d]iscourse of education is <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40027428">largely dysfunctional</a> when it comes to meeting the material, social and cultural needs of African American youth.”</p>
<p>Perhaps no rap group has expressed this view more clearly – and scathingly – than <a href="https://afropunk.com/2019/11/dead-prez-was-right-about-everything/">dead prez</a>, who were inspired by their high school experience to conclude in a 2000 song titled <a href="https://genius.com/Dead-prez-they-schools-lyrics">“They Schools”</a> that: “They schools can’t teach us sh-t.”</p>
<p>Notably, it wasn’t education that dead prez despised, but the racist manner in which they saw it being delivered.</p>
<p>As stic man – one half of dead prez – recited in the song:</p>
<p><em>I tried to pay attention but they classes wasn’t interestin’
They seemed to only glorify the Europeans
Claiming Africans was only three-fifths of human beings</em></p>
<p>Dead prez’s critique of public education was by no means the first time a hip-hop artist called out American education as racist.</p>
<p>Much like the English rock band <a href="https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/pinkfloyd/anotherbrickinthewallpartii.html">Pink Floyd’s cynical lyrics</a> “We don’t need no education / we don’t need no thought control,” many of hip-hop’s pioneering artists depict mainstream education as being designed to miseducate and program its students.</p>
<p>In 1989’s “You Must Learn,” KRS-One suggests that schools should use a more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15505170.2015.1008077">culturally relevant approach</a> when he raps, “It seems to me that in a school that’s ebony / African history should be pumped up steadily, but it’s not / and this has got to stop.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430532/original/file-20211105-19-9hjyup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two rappers perform on stage." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430532/original/file-20211105-19-9hjyup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430532/original/file-20211105-19-9hjyup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430532/original/file-20211105-19-9hjyup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430532/original/file-20211105-19-9hjyup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430532/original/file-20211105-19-9hjyup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430532/original/file-20211105-19-9hjyup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430532/original/file-20211105-19-9hjyup.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"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dead prez’s lyrics point out anti-Black messages in the public school system.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/stic-man-and-m-1-of-dead-prez-perform-as-part-of-the-news-photo/934063912?adppopup=true">Gladys Vega/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2017’s “Black Still,” Scarface raps: “Our kids educated by the enemy / And they don’t know sh-t about their history / Cause they ain’t teaching that in school.” </p>
<p>In their own way, these lyrics highlight frustrations with mainstream education’s lack of a viable <a href="https://www.nea.org/sites/default/files/2020-10/What%20the%20Research%20Says%20About%20Ethnic%20Studies.pdf">ethnic studies curriculum</a>, which has proved to <a href="https://www.nea.org/sites/default/files/2020-10/What%20the%20Research%20Says%20About%20Ethnic%20Studies.pdf">foster cross-cultural understanding</a>, self-respect and diverse perspectives.</p>
<h2>2. Schools don’t teach self-reliance</h2>
<p>Many rappers have called out public education for failing to emphasize self-reliance and how to build wealth in a capitalistic society. For instance, in his 2015 song, “Fly,” the rapper Hopsin recounts how teachers wrongly tried to make him think that going to school is the only way to succeed.</p>
<p>Hopsin raps, “I was taught education is the only way to make it / Then how’d I get so much money inside my savings? / My teachers never saw the heights that I’m f-cking aiming / Did the man who invented college, go to college? Hm, okay then”</p>
<p>A 2007 study found that hard-core rap “<a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/%E2%80%9CI-Don't-Want-My-Ends-to-Just-Meet%3B-I-Want-My-Ends-Newman/84d6efe169c86cd724c67fc8964af655639c356c">supports a strong capitalist ideology</a>” and that high school students in a New York City high school found this ideology “attractive because it supports their dreams and expectations of a successful and prosperous adulthood.”</p>
<p>This is one of the reasons that the entrepreneurial messages of rappers like <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/julianmitchell/2018/03/01/the-art-of-being-self-made-a-conversation-with-nipsey-hussle/?sh=595b1a73a07f">Nipsey Hussle</a>, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2014/01/17/ssons-from-rapper-50-cents-playbook.html">50 Cent</a> and <a href="https://www.wsmv.com/call_4_action/percy-master-p-miller-speaks-with-entrepreneurs-and-startups-in-the-music-city/article_3c5ae83e-3385-11ec-83db-f3a8a0ce0c71.html">Master P</a> tend to resonate. </p>
<p>A few prominent rappers also speak to building wealth. In 2017’s “<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=the+story+of+oj+lyrics&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS917US917&oq=The+story+of+OJ+lyrics&aqs=chrome.0.0i512l3j0i22i30l3.9620j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8">The Story of OJ</a>,” Jay-Z speaks about generational wealth.</p>
<p>“Financial freedom my only hope / F–k livin’ rich and dyin’ broke / I bought some artwork for one million / Two years later, that shit worth two million / Few years later, that shit worth eight million / I can’t wait to give this shit to my children”</p>
<p>When rap artists find success, they often flaunt it in the face of former teachers who were naysayers – offering them a sort of “look-at-me-now” clapback by calling attention to their triumph despite a lack of formal education.</p>
<p>For example, the first words in Notorious B.I.G.’s 1994 song “Juicy” were “Yeah, this album is dedicated to all the teachers that told me I’d never amount to nothin’.”</p>
<p>While such braggadocio appears to focus only on the financial <a href="https://www.floridatoday.com/story/money/business/2017/07/23/success-looks-different-everyone/103913734/">aspects of success</a>, the lyrics reflect a deeper issue of how traditional schooling stifles the imagination and creativity that power entrepreneurial interests. In this paradigm, teachers are often cast as dream killers. </p>
<p>For instance, in “R.I.C.O.,” a 2015 song, Meek Mill raps: “For my teachers that said I wouldn’t make it here / I spend a day what you make a year.” </p>
<iframe width="100%" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EgRrxFsX538?start=102" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p>Nevertheless, Meek Mill announced in 2016 that he had <a href="https://www.rap-up.com/2016/01/22/meek-mill-enrolls-in-college/">enrolled in college</a> because “being educated makes you money, and I like making money and taking care of my family.” More recently, in 2020, Meek Mill announced that he and Michael Rubin, a co-owner of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, were teaming up start a <a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/9498542/meek-mill-michael-rubin-2-million-scholarship-fund-philadelphia-students">$2 million scholarship fund</a> for students in Meek’s hometown of Philadelphia.</p>
<h2>3. Education is still a viable plan</h2>
<p>When hip-hop was just beginning to go mainstream in the 1980s, there was an abundance of rappers who urged listeners to pursue education after high school. For example, Run DMC, in the classic 1984 song “It’s Like That,” rapped, “You should’ve gone to school, you could’ve learned a trade / But you laid in the bed where the bums have laid.”</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Similarly, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five rapped in a classic 1982 song “The Message”: “You say I’m cool, I’m no fool / But then you wind up dropping out of high school.”</p>
<p>L.L. Cool J rapped in 1987’s “The Breakthrough”: “So get your own on your own / it’ll strengthen your soul / Stop livin’ off your parents like you’re three years old / Instead of walkin’ like you’re limp and talkin’ yang about me / Why don’t you take your monkey-ass and get a college degree?”</p>
<p>But much has changed since the 1980s. According to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/college-was-supposed-to-close-the-wealth-gap-for-black-americans-the-opposite-happened-11628328602">one study</a>, in the past three decades, instead of closing the racial wealth gap for Black college grads, college debt and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorrison/2020/06/18/black-graduates-twice-as-likely-to-be-unemployed/?sh=4a80c81077eb">unemployment</a> have expanded it. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430538/original/file-20211105-9983-1sa5c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Black man in a doctoral robe gives a speech on stage." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430538/original/file-20211105-9983-1sa5c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430538/original/file-20211105-9983-1sa5c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430538/original/file-20211105-9983-1sa5c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430538/original/file-20211105-9983-1sa5c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430538/original/file-20211105-9983-1sa5c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430538/original/file-20211105-9983-1sa5c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430538/original/file-20211105-9983-1sa5c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Diddy has an honorary doctorate from Howard University.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/entrepreneur-and-philanthropist-sean-diddy-combs-delivers-news-photo/489180583?adppopup=true">Allison Shelley/Getty Images for DKC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Be that as it may, some rap artists, such as <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/rs-charts-top-200-j-cole-the-off-season-1173755/">J. Cole</a>, still view college as a viable backup plan. In 2007’s “<a href="https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/jcole/collegeboy.html">College Boy</a>,” Cole raps: “And if this rap sh-t don’t work, I’m going for my Master’s.”</p>
<p>Hip-hop education has already proved it can provide both <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15505170.2015.1008077">cultural relevance</a> and improved <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085918789729">academic performance</a>. As one <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085918789729">study</a> suggests, if implemented in the right way in a classroom setting, “hip-hop can be a powerful tool to engage youth of color.”</p>
<p>In short, the blending of hip-hop culture and education has the potential to reshape schools in a way that works for everyone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165735/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nolan Jones does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The world of rap music has no shortage of artists who turned their backs on formal education only to become some of education’s biggest benefactors.Nolan Jones, Assistant Professor of Practice, Mills CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1293582020-01-23T13:51:28Z2020-01-23T13:51:28ZI asked Tanzanians about studying in China: here’s what they said<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309449/original/file-20200110-97145-1384eli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tanzanian students sometimes felt isolated </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">R.M. Nunes/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past three decades, China has turned into <a href="https://qz.com/africa/1017926/china-has-overtaken-the-us-and-uk-as-the-top-destination-for-anglophone-african-students/">a major</a> study-abroad hotspot for thousands of African students. In 2018 it <a href="https://www.asiabyafrica.com/point-a-to-a/african-international-students-study-in-china">hosted</a> over 60,000 African students, making it the second most popular destination for African students abroad, after France. It is even ahead of the US and UK. </p>
<p>This trend can, in part, be explained by China’s growing provision of scholarships and also by the Chinese government’s human resource and education <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/poldev/1788">capacity building schemes</a>, such as the <a href="https://africanbrains.net/2012/08/09/china-to-implement-african-talents-program/">African talents programme</a>, which target the continent. </p>
<p>Driving this relationship is <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt2tt1tp">China’s desire</a> for international diplomacy and to improve the international ranking of Chinese universities. Chinese institutions also <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20180907083412817">want to improve</a> the mobility of Chinese students and academics into Africa and have <a href="https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/magazine/success/1843788-5198044-guov29z/index.html">African scholars</a> lecture in China. </p>
<p>One African country with a long history of education cooperation with China is Tanzania. This dates <a href="https://www.africaportal.org/publications/aerc-scoping-studies-on-china-africa-economic-relations-the-case-of-tanzania/">back to 1962</a>. A major component of this relation is scholarships. </p>
<p>As part of my research interest in China’s role towards technological capacity building in Tanzania, I wanted to know how useful these scholarships were for Tanzanian students. I <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S073805931630150X">did a study</a> with 85 Tanzanians who had academic training in China, provided by the Chinese government. I also got inputs from 13 stakeholders, including Chinese and Tanzanian administrators of the scholarship scheme. </p>
<p>I found that, the study group was generally positive about the knowledge and skills they received through classroom sessions and practical and laboratory activities. They also brought back equipment (like multimedia projectors) and technical literature which would benefit them and others back home.</p>
<p>But there were some challenges too. These included cross-cultural barriers and language related communication problems. Another factor was that Tanzania sometimes didn’t have the capacity to use some of the advanced Chinese technologies, such as nano science, taught in the courses. </p>
<p>More must be done to improve the relevance of training courses for African students in China. For this to happen, Chinese trainers need to become more acquainted with Tanzania’s, and more largely Africa’s, developmental and technical situation. </p>
<h2>The study</h2>
<p>In 2014, about <a href="https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/pdf/10.1142/S2377740017500026">1,400</a> Tanzanians attended various training courses in China, including scholarship recipients funded by the Chinese or Tanzanian government. The figure reached <a href="https://www.asiabyafrica.com/point-a-to-a/african-international-students-study-in-china">3,520 in 2016</a>. </p>
<p>My study focused on the two scholarship schemes that attract the largest number of applicants for short and long education programs in China. </p>
<p>Just over 60% of the study’s participants had attended academic training programmes that lasted at least one year. The rest attended short training courses. For those in academia, 45% were pursing a Bachelor’s degree, 38% a Master’s and 17% were at the PhD level. </p>
<p>I used both interviews and surveys to assess what the students thought about the relevance and quality of the courses. </p>
<p>Students were generally positive when it came to the quality of the programmes, particularly when they were asked to compare the courses to similar ones they encountered at Tanzanian institutions. </p>
<p>The greatest gains they found were access to electronic and physical learning resources, specifically literature and equipment which are limited or too expensive in Tanzania. Chinese scholarship awards were also considered to be more prestigious than local accolades. </p>
<h2>Improvements needed</h2>
<p>The students and trainees also highlighted some challenges. </p>
<p>For example, participants of the short seminars described the training using phrases such as; “more of a tour”, “serves the demonstration of China’s economic achievements” or “a series of unrelated lectures”. </p>
<p>Some recipients were suspicious of the Chinese’ motives for the training. Many believed the awards were meant to favour Chinese more than Tanzanian interests. </p>
<p>The language barrier came out as the leading challenge facing the majority of the surveyed trainees. 67% of respondents were trained in English, 19% in Mandarin with English translations and the remaining 14% attended the courses in Mandarin language.</p>
<p>Language barriers prevented classroom communication, socio-cultural interactions and also the acquisition of basic services while they stayed in China. </p>
<p>For those in long term academia, a major challenge they faced was access to English learning resources. Medical trainees had the added challenge of having to interact with patients during clinical sessions. </p>
<p>For their part, the Tanzanian government’s scholarship administrators were happy with their engagement in the awarding process. They did say that more could be done in granting them access to completion records. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Chinese officials said that Chinese universities improved their global ranking because of programmes like these. </p>
<h2>Socio-cultural differences</h2>
<p>Other than communication, there were other socio-cultural differences that the students found challenging. These included the different type of food and racism – particularly for those trained in smaller, less multicultural Chinese cities. These challenges led to students feeling isolated, homesick and lonely – particularly amongst the longer-term candidates. </p>
<p>Finally, while the students were impressed by China’s advanced technological capabilities, some found they couldn’t use their new skills at home because of technology gaps. For instance, a medicine alumni used a diagnostic kit that he found very efficient during his training in China. However, the government hospital where he works was only able to get them three years after his return.</p>
<p>I propose that collaborative research and exchange programmes be designed between Chinese and Tanzanian academic institutions. This would make them more relevant. And as China continues to invest in businesses in Tanzania, it could ensure graduates have the right training for the jobs being created.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129358/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hezron Makundi received funding from the University of Dar es Salaam, and KU Leuven to conduct a study that informed this article. </span></em></p>Over the past 30 years China has turned into a major study-abroad hotspot for thousands of African students.Hezron Makundi, Lecturer in Development Studies , University of Dar es SalaamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/846422017-11-06T15:08:39Z2017-11-06T15:08:39ZAfrica needs to start creating its own medical technology. Here’s how<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192436/original/file-20171030-18686-14dazsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Biomedical innovations can work with traditional methods like x-rays to guide doctors' decisions.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Adriane Ohanesian</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Biomedical engineering can save lives. It draws on and integrates knowledge from disciplines like engineering, computer science, biomedical sciences, and public health as well as clinical practice. This knowledge is combined to improve health – often through the design of medical devices for diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation. </p>
<p>Most of Africa’s medical equipment <a href="https://www.trade.gov/topmarkets/pdf/Medical_Devices_Executive_Summary.pdf">is imported</a>. “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/the-inadequacy-of-donating-medical-devices-to-africa/279855/">Equipment graveyards</a>” become the final resting place for medical devices that aren’t suited to local conditions. This can include dust, heat, humidity and an <a href="http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/en/news/blogs/Electricity-for-all-in-Africa-Possible">intermittent supply of electricity</a>. Some machines are discarded because hospital and clinic staff haven’t been trained to operate them or because replacement parts are not available when they’ve broken.</p>
<p>African countries need to start producing and developing their own medical devices. A cadre of suitably skilled biomedical engineers is needed for this sort of innovation to take root. That’s what prompted a number of African universities to establish the <a href="http://abec-africa.org/">African Biomedical Engineering Consortium</a>. We advance education and research in biomedical engineering across the continent. </p>
<h2>Skills development</h2>
<p>We know that biomedical engineers alone won’t suddenly make Africa a world leader in medical device innovation. Other elements <a href="https://www.uneca.org/sites/default/files/PublicationFiles/innovating_for_better_health_final_.pdf">are needed</a> – like well-equipped laboratories that enable experimentation and prototyping. Funding to support the translation and scaling of prototypes is another. Manufacturing infrastructure is important. So are regulations to ensure equipment safety and structures to oversee intellectual property management. </p>
<p>But the consortium’s focus is on producing people to bring innovation to life. Now five years old, it brings together established and emerging biomedical engineering programmes at African universities to develop the continent’s capacity for innovation in health technology. The network has grown stronger as more member institutions have introduced degree programmes in biomedical engineering.</p>
<p>Now some members of the consortium have turned their attention to a more focused transfer of skills and knowledge across participating universities. This is being done with the aid <a href="https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/intra-africa/funding/intra-africa-academic-mobility-scheme-2017_en">of funding</a> from the European Commission. </p>
<p>We’ve launched a <a href="https://www.africanbmemobility.org/">capacity-building project</a> to support the training of postgraduate students. Six African universities are involved. These are Addis Ababa University; Cairo University; Kenyatta University; Uganda’s Mbarara University of Science and Technology; the University of Cape Town (UCT); and the University of Lagos. Italy’s University of Pisa is also participating.</p>
<p>The first round of applications has just been concluded. Our postgraduates will be drawn from the six participating African universities as well as others on the continent. Each student will receive a full scholarship to cover tuition, travel and living expenses. This will support training for Master’s and PhD candidates at partner institutions outside their home countries over a five-year period. </p>
<p>The initiative particularly focuses on building skills that address African needs by engaging students in projects that arise from local realities. Examples include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Creating prosthetic limbs for landmine victims </p></li>
<li><p>Using mobile phones, along with custom-built applications, as diagnostic tools in remote areas. </p></li>
<li><p>Eliminating the need for expensive imaging equipment that’s not always readily available, by developing software that enables 3D visualisation of the anatomy from ubiquitous X-ray images.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>We’ll start training the first cohort of students in 2018.</p>
<h2>Building the academic base</h2>
<p>But training emerging scholars isn’t enough. Africa needs more academics who can navigate the interdisciplinary environment needed to develop technological solutions to health problems. </p>
<p>That’s why the project also supports academics who want to improve their skills. They can travel between African partner universities to develop their research and training capacity. An academic from a new biomedical engineering programme in Uganda, for instance, could work with colleagues at UCT, then share teaching approaches back home. Or a lecturer from Cairo could spend time in Lagos teaching and sharing research methods.</p>
<p>This is also a good way for universities to harmonise their biomedical engineering curricula and benchmark them against those of partner universities. And it’s a way to promote the sharing of scarce resources.</p>
<p><em>This article is based on <a href="http://www.sajs.co.za/sites/default/files/publications/pdf/SAJS-113-7-8_Douglas_NewsViews.pdf">a piece</a> which appeared in the South African Journal of Science.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84642/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tania Douglas receives funding from the National Research Foundation, the Medical Research Council, the National Institutes of Health (Fogarty International Center), and the European Commission (Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency). She has, in the past, received funding from Lodox Systems and CapeRay Medical.</span></em></p>African countries need to start producing and developing their own medical devices. Suitably skilled biomedical engineers are needed for this sort of innovation to take root.Tania Douglas, Professor & Research Chair - Biomedical Engineering & Innovation, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/746222017-06-12T19:56:15Z2017-06-12T19:56:15ZWe need to know the true cost of Indigenous boarding school scholarships on communities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163597/original/image-20170403-18846-l1pp6n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Seeking out a good education can sometimes take you away from what's familiar.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/are-we-making-progress-on-indigenous-education-39329">this series</a>, we’ll discuss whether progress is being made on Indigenous education, looking at various areas including policy, scholarships, school leadership, literacy and much more.</em> </p>
<hr>
<p>Every year, over 3,000 Indigenous students leave home to attend boarding schools. While many consider Indigenous boarding programs a “solution” generally aimed at remote students who don’t have access to local high schools, most Indigenous students at boarding schools are not from remote Australia. </p>
<p>Some come from cities, but the majority of Indigenous boarders come from regional and rural Australia. </p>
<p>With the government spending <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/pyne/54-million-help-indigenous-boarding-school-students">millions of dollars</a> each year to encourage Indigenous students to attend boarding schools, what is the true cost of Indigenous boarding on regional communities, Indigenous families and students?</p>
<h2>Many more will leave remote areas</h2>
<p>By <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/3238.0Media%20Release02001%20to%202026?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=3238.0&issue=2001%20to%202026&num=&view=">2026</a>, only 8% of all Indigenous Australians are projected to be living in remote Australia. </p>
<p>Within this decade, our Indigenous population is <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/3238.0Media%20Release02001%20to%202026?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=3238.0&issue=2001%20to%202026&num=&view=">projected</a> to reach upwards of 900,000 people, from <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/latestProducts/3238.0.55.001Media%20Release1June%202011">669,900</a> in 2013.</p>
<p>Huge amounts of government and state <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/pyne/54-million-help-indigenous-boarding-school-students">funding</a> continue to be spent on <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/BudgetReview201516/Indigenous">boarding</a> programs that enable students to leave their home communities and attend boarding schools in major cities and large towns. </p>
<p>While the government financially supports individual scholarship foundations and providers, private schools often fund their own scholarships. </p>
<p>Students and boarding schools can also access funding from the government’s <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Indigenous_Affairs/Educational_Opportunities/Interim_Report">ABSTUDY</a> initiative. Figures specific to boarding schools have not been released, but in 2015-16 ABSTUDY payments to secondary school students alone cost around <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/10_2016/dss_annual_report_2015-16.pdf">$145 million</a>.</p>
<h2>Little research on impact of Australian Indigenous boarding</h2>
<p>During my years coordinating an Indigenous program for boarding students at a private girls’ college, I struggled to find data and research related to the <a href="http://www.reefandleaf.com.au/etropic%2014.1%20files/14%20Stewart%20and%20Lewthwaite.pdf">experiences</a> and outcomes of Indigenous boarders in Australia.</p>
<p>Through a <a href="http://www.anu.edu.au/alumni/our-alumni/spotlight/jessa-rogers">PhD</a> I decided to add to the small body of <a href="http://www.reefandleaf.com.au/etropic%2014.1%20files/14%20Stewart%20and%20Lewthwaite.pdf">studies</a> in this area through analysing the experiences of 25 Aboriginal girls attending boarding schools away from home.</p>
<h2>Boarding better option than local school?</h2>
<p>The majority of students in my study explained that they had chosen not to attend their local school because, based on their own and others’ experiences attending such schools, they believed the teaching and management to be of poor quality. </p>
<p>Students spoke of wanting better educational opportunities, as well as access to extracurricular activities, which were not provided at their local school. </p>
<p>They also described how local schools in their home towns, mostly in regional and rural Australia, struggled to keep teachers for longer than a year. They said that learning often consisted of copying down lines from a whiteboard or “mucking around” in unruly classrooms. </p>
<p>Students saw this as an example of “the teacher not caring”, “not trying” and “not thinking Aboriginal kids deserve a good education”.</p>
<p>But a few students I spoke to were attending boarding school in the city they lived in, and were able to catch the train home to visit their families. Some saw boarding school as opening doors to better opportunities in the future, by being able to put the name of a “big school” on their resume.</p>
<p>Having a good education was seen as a stepping stone toward a better life, even if students felt their education did not support their Indigenous identity and culture. </p>
<p>The pull between wanting a good future and wanting to maintain their identity was palpable, and unresolved. This was often the reason given for Indigenous students dropping out of boarding school. </p>
<p>Statistics <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4714.0%7E2014-15%7EMain%20Features%7EEducation%7E5">show</a> that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in non-remote areas are more likely than those in remote areas to have completed Year 12 or equivalent (28% compared with 18%). </p>
<p>And while boarding school is a way for students from remote areas to move to regional and urban schools, the completion rates of remote students in boarding schools are unclear. </p>
<p>Recent <a href="http://education.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/1391651/004_STEWART_V2.pdf">research</a> indicates that in some remote towns where secondary schooling is unavailable, up to 50% of secondary school aged students who are supported to attend boarding school return as a result of de-enrolling (through self-exclusion, withdrawal, exclusion or cancellation of enrolment).</p>
<h2>Other reasons for attending boarding school</h2>
<p>Students choose to attend boarding for individual reasons. In my research, one student spoke of leaving home because her mother was in a violent relationship, and she wanted to move away to escape the hurt of watching her mother being bashed after letting her boyfriend return each time he left her, bruised and crushed.</p>
<p>Another student spoke of how she and her mother had often searched for boarding scholarship advertisements in the hope of a “better education” and “making her family proud”. The same student told me that getting into boarding school granted her grandmother’s dying wish. </p>
<h2>Impact on communities</h2>
<p>Three in four students in my study said they had been subjected to racism and discrimination while at boarding school. </p>
<p>This included name calling, taunts based on being scholarship recipients, and social isolation by non-Indigenous students.</p>
<p>Many of the events students described were not heard, but were felt. “You just know,” one student said, “it’s the way they look at you”. </p>
<p>Students also described problems with feeling homesick; a lack of understanding of Indigenous content in classwork; their need for Indigenous teachers – who comprise of just <a href="https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/article/increasing-the-number-of-indigenous-educators-in-australian-schools">1.2%</a> of the Australian teaching workforce. They also wanted more access to Indigenous support people in schools.</p>
<p>They talked about feeling disconnected with family, culture and identity when they returned home after boarding. They also retold painful stories of feeling lost and trapped, not knowing who they were when they returned home after changing to fit in at boarding school.</p>
<h2>Desire to stay in city in further education</h2>
<p>Despite this, the majority of Aboriginal students I spoke with said that they planned to remain in major cities and regional centres, to go to university or in getting a job after boarding school.</p>
<p>They saw this future, away from their communities, as bright, exciting, and worth it as an “end goal”.</p>
<p>While scholarships are providing students with opportunities to attend boarding schools that are well out of reach for most families, the cost to identity, culture and connection to community has not been fully explored – and is rarely discussed with students and families before they embark on such journeys. </p>
<h2>Boarding scholarships worthwhile?</h2>
<p>What is clear is that boarding school is not for everyone. Some students will thrive, and others will <a href="http://boardingtrainingaustralia.com.au/2016/04/15/indigenous-boarding-paper/">not</a>, regardless of whether they are Indigenous or non-Indigenous. Indigenous boarding school scholarship foundations openly state this to potential applicants.</p>
<p>It’s also a reality that a small number of Indigenous students must leave their <a href="http://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/cairns/high-school-floated-as-solution-to-aurukuns-problems/news-story/e077b609ddc54b2159ff8a19461686af">homes</a> if they wish to receive a high school education in Australia. </p>
<p>More data, however, must be collected if the government is to continue to spend millions on sending Indigenous young people to boarding school. </p>
<p>More research into boarding school models, more discussion around the aims of such initiatives, and an understanding of the true cost of boarding school on students, and their communities, is also required. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>• <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/are-we-making-progress-on-indigenous-education-39329">Read more</a> articles in this series.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74622/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessa Rogers 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>If the government is to continue to spend millions toward sending Indigenous children away to boarding school, we need research into how effective this model is, and its impact on communities.Jessa Rogers, Assistant Professor, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/732802017-02-28T14:52:44Z2017-02-28T14:52:44ZGood mentorship has the power to unlock university students’ potential<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158490/original/image-20170227-26337-ldh84p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Good mentoring can open up entirely new worlds for university students.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When I sent out an informal notice to my computer science students offering mentorship to anyone who wanted it, I wasn’t expecting many replies. After all, how many students rush to get involved in voluntary activities when they’re already so busy with academic work?</p>
<p>I was wrong. </p>
<p>Within two days 40 students had signed up. More requests followed – five of them from students who don’t even attend my university. The mentorship program kicked off in September 2016 and has been running for nearly six months. </p>
<p>In that time the students and I have learned a great deal about what it takes to mentor and be mentored in a structured, meaningful way. </p>
<p>There’s a vast amount of research evidence that proves how valuable mentorship can be. It improves students’ <a href="http://www.academia.edu/6993034/EFFECTS_OF_MENTORING_AND_INCULCATING_LIFE_SKILLS_TO_UNIVERSITY_STUDENTS_A_CASE_STUDY_OF_DAYSTAR_UNIVERSITY_PRE-UNIVERSITY">academic performance</a> and, at its best, also equips them with the skills they’ll need to excel in a <a href="http://www.mentoring.org/why-mentoring/mentoring-impact/">professional environment</a>.</p>
<p>I have started to see all of this for myself, and have learned a number of lessons about what works when it comes to good mentoring programs. These lessons may be valuable to others who want to establish mentoring programs at their own universities.</p>
<h2>Ask questions before you start</h2>
<p>I conducted a survey to determine what the students expected and whether they’d had any prior experience with mentoring. 83% had never been mentors or mentees. My next step, using their survey answers, was to categorise students’ expectations into themes so I could tailor the mentorship program to these.</p>
<p>Four themes emerged: professional development, innovation, community involvement, peer-mentorship, and scholarship. </p>
<p><strong>Professional development:</strong> 80% of the students said they wanted to work on their “soft” skills, such as the ability to express their skills in a scholarship or a job interview, confidence in presentations, and their writing skills. All of this was in a bid to become all-rounded graduates. This suggests that highly structured university curricula may not be enough: students may need additional support to prepare them for the working world.</p>
<p><strong>Innovation:</strong> most of the students said they wanted to improve their ability to develop quality ICT solutions, and to increase their confidence to participate in collaborative software projects. The students worried that the university curriculum may not be drawing from cutting-edge industry standards, leaving them at a disadvantage once they graduate.</p>
<p><strong>Community involvement:</strong> 60% of the students said they hadn’t participated in or attended a tech event while at university. And 83% hadn’t been involved in any peer-to-peer mentoring where they could learn from each other. The best teaching must happen within lecture halls, but students need to connect with each other and with different forums outside the classroom.</p>
<p><strong>Scholarship:</strong> Many of the students weren’t aware of the many scholarship or grant opportunities available through the university or external organisations. They also had little experience in how to write a good scholarship application.</p>
<p>Armed with all of this information, I was able to design a mentorship program that directly addressed the students’ needs.</p>
<h2>Responding to students’ needs</h2>
<p>We’ve focused on responding to the four themes students identified in the survey. For instance, the students have attended writing workshops as well as “soft” skill workshops hosted by industry professionals. Some have even attended international conferences, giving them a chance to develop their networking skills and meet professionals in the ICT industry.</p>
<p>There’s also been a lot of work around the issue of collaboration and innovation. The mentees have been involved in collaborative sessions with other Kenyan tech institutions like Moringa School and Nairobits. Some have also participated in Google’s Hashcode online programming competition for the very first time.</p>
<p>Some of mentees have taken the initiative and registered Kenya Methodist University’s Nairobi Campus’ first ever Computer Science Society. This organisation encourages students to get involved in software design and programming competitions.</p>
<p>Networking has been crucial. Whenever I get an invitation to speak at or attend any tech event, I ask whether I can bring my mentees along. </p>
<p>In some cases, the mentees have become mentors: they’ve volunteered to work with other students, participated in outreach activities at local tech schools and have even taught classes on software development aspects such as <a href="https://github.com/">GitHub</a>, a collaborative platform where programming projects can be hosted; web design, and programming using Java and C++. </p>
<p>The feedback from students attending the peer-training has been overwhelmingly positive, with 100% of the attendees asking for additional classes. </p>
<p>There’s also been great success on the scholarship front. The students now feel empowered to apply for scholarships or similar support. <a href="https://www.kemu.ac.ke/index.php/news-items/573-one-of-our-students-is-a-grace-hopper-scholarship-winner">Nyariak Deng</a>’ became the first-ever student from our university to attend the 2016 Grace Hopper Conference in Houston, Texas, on a full scholarship from Anita Borg Institute. This is the largest annual gathering of women technologists in the world.</p>
<p>Her achievement is particularly worth celebrating since 70% of those studying computing at my university are men. It is crucial to encourage women students to get involved in mentorship programs. </p>
<p>But it’s also important to note that the mentoring program I run is open to both men and women – universities shouldn’t ignore male students who need support and assistance.</p>
<h2>Mentoring matters</h2>
<p>All of this has proved to me how much university mentoring programs can offer. The quality of higher education in Kenya has been <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/news/World-Bank-raises-concern-over-Kenya-s-graduates/-/1056/2893556/-/14wh4u2z/-/index.html">repeatedly criticised</a>. Some of the “fixes” are obvious: hire more quality academics, improve research culture and improve university facilities.</p>
<p>But immersive, active mentorship is also vital. It is a way to introduce students to the world of work in more ways than just through curriculum and classroom activities. </p>
<p>It is also a way to keep academics engaged and excited about their work. I am humbled to have recently been nominated for a “<a href="http://www.kenyanvibe.com/kenyan-women-trailblazers-feted-zuri-awards/">Zuri Award</a>” which recognises women who contribute positively to their communities in Kenya. This recognition, along with the mentees’ excitement, has given me the much needed impetus to continue holding the ladder for students in computer science.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73280/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>A Women Techmaker's mentorship session that formed part of this mentorship program was funded by Google. </span></em></p>Mentoring programs can be enormously valuable for students, both in terms of their academic performance and their professional development.Dr. Chao Mbogho, Researcher and Lecturer of Computer Science, Mentor, Kenya Methodist UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/666702016-10-16T19:07:21Z2016-10-16T19:07:21ZWe need to rethink recruitment for men in primary schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141731/original/image-20161014-3938-1epjxrv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We are experiencing a proportional decline of men in Australian primary schools.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Across Australia there is a shortage of male teachers, particularly in primary schools, where men make up just <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/log?openagent&table%2051a%20in-school%20staff%20(fte),%202001-2015.xls&4221.0&Data%20Cubes&CB19DF51A1B8CCA7CA257F6A000FEAA1&0&2015&03.03.2016&Latest">19%</a> of the full-time workforce nationwide. </p>
<p>While in universities, incentives are offered to women to redress gender imbalance in certain subject areas like science, technology, engineering and maths, the law doesn’t allow for the same incentives to be offered to men. </p>
<p>Although the number of male primary school teachers in Australia is not declining – the number of full time male primary teachers in Australia has remained fairly constant over the last 25 years – the number of female primary teachers has increased dramatically, causing a proportional decline of men.</p>
<p>We know why men are <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/male-teachers-rare-breed-but-still-sought-after-20151030-gkmpp0.html">reluctant</a> to enter the teaching profession – with <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13598660500286176">low salary, status and the perception</a> that teaching young children is better suited to women being chief among these reasons. So why can’t we do anything about it?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140986/original/image-20161009-21447-j9pwp5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140986/original/image-20161009-21447-j9pwp5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140986/original/image-20161009-21447-j9pwp5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140986/original/image-20161009-21447-j9pwp5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140986/original/image-20161009-21447-j9pwp5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=660&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140986/original/image-20161009-21447-j9pwp5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=660&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140986/original/image-20161009-21447-j9pwp5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=660&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Full time primary school teachers in all Australian schools by gender.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Data source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1991-2015.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The gender imbalance in Australian primary schools is stronger in some areas than others; differing between states and territories and between the public and private sector.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140987/original/image-20161009-21433-1clkniy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140987/original/image-20161009-21433-1clkniy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140987/original/image-20161009-21433-1clkniy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140987/original/image-20161009-21433-1clkniy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140987/original/image-20161009-21433-1clkniy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140987/original/image-20161009-21433-1clkniy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140987/original/image-20161009-21433-1clkniy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Full time primary school teachers in all Australian schools by gender, state and territory.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Data source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2015.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The scholarship scandal</h2>
<p>In 2004 the federal government announced <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2004/s1100485.htm">A$1 million</a> in scholarships for men studying to become primary school teachers. To date, not a single scholarship has been funded. So why can’t Australia deliver?</p>
<p>Tertiary scholarships have been used successfully in Australia to encourage female students to study traditionally male-dominated subjects, like <a href="https://www.engineering.unsw.edu.au/study-with-us/scholarships/women-in-engineering-scholarship-opportunities">engineering</a> and <a href="https://www.officeforwomen.sa.gov.au/womens-policy/womens-employment-and-economic-status/women-in-stem/scholarships">mathematics</a>. </p>
<p>These scholarships were created to eliminate discrimination against women in male-dominated professions.</p>
<p>Surprisingly, offering male-only scholarships is unlawful. These male-only scholarships would breach the 1984 Sex Discrimination Act – unless, that is, the act is amended or an exemption applied.</p>
<p>A bill to amend the Sex Discrimination Act and allow scholarships for men studying primary education has previously been introduced and rejected three times. The reason being that “there was <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/bd/bd0304/04bd110">insufficient evidence</a> that the gender imbalance was adversely affecting children”.</p>
<p>While this is true in an <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01411920701532202">academic</a> sense, we know little about effects on children’s experience of schooling more broadly.</p>
<p>Girls, for example, have <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09540253.2013.796342">expressed anxiety</a> about transitioning to high school because they are unsure of how to relate to male teachers. As one year six girl explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you have a male teacher you have to get used to being around a male person besides someone from your family. You can’t just be around female teachers and then not be around male teachers because I wouldn’t then know how to act or to speak to them because they’re male.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022440512000027">Recent evidence</a> finds that while female primary teachers form closer relationships with girls, male primary teachers form similarly close <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1747938X14000396">relationships</a> with boys and girls.</p>
<h2>Can we target jobs to men?</h2>
<p>Targeting employment opportunities to men or women is OK in particular circumstances. </p>
<p>Exemptions to the Sex Discrimination Act allow employers to discriminate on the grounds of sex if, for example, duties include fitting or searching clothing, or entering a lavatory while it is in use by a person of that sex.</p>
<p>In Western Australia, the <a href="http://det.wa.edu.au/careers/detcms/navigation/choose-teaching/males-in-primary/">Males in Primary</a> program was started to raise awareness of primary teaching as a suitable career for young men. The program includes a short <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Soi3VcMWibw">video</a> that high school principals were encouraged to share with male students. </p>
<p>Despite visiting hundreds of schools to promote the program, education minister Peter Collier admitted that he is <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-19/wa-government-still-failing-to-attract-male-teachers/7524052">frustrated</a> that more young men aren’t becoming teachers, stating that it was not surprising when young men can earn more money driving mining trucks.</p>
<h2>Advertising women-only jobs</h2>
<p>Recently, an Australian university received heavy criticism when they advertised:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We will only consider applications from suitably qualified female candidates. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The position was for a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-18/melbourne-university-opens-up-jobs-to-women-applicants-only/7426704">lecturer in mathematics and statistics</a>, where only 30% of associate lecturers were female.</p>
<p>This same statement appeared again last week, when another university announced five ongoing <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/swinburne-uni-seeks-women-for-stem-fellowships/news-story/80e3b0de5a09cbd257989f0ba86d429b">research fellowship positions</a> for female candidates in STEM disciplines, <a href="https://www.seek.com.au/job/32025304">stating</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>While women comprise almost half of the nation’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) PhD graduates, less than 20% of senior academics in STEM disciplines at Australian universities are women.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It appears that these universities are using the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act - state legislation - to bypass national sex discrimination legislation and target employment opportunities to women.</p>
<p>It is unlikely that we will see schools targeting employment to men any time soon as doing so may prevent the best candidate for the job being considered. After all, the <a href="http://mje.mcgill.ca/article/view/559">quality</a> of teaching is far more important than the gender of a teacher. </p>
<h2>Should schools have more male teachers?</h2>
<p>It is true that having more male teachers would not necessarily improve students’ academic outcomes. But this isn’t about academic outcomes at all, it’s about workplace diversity and socialisation.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09540253.2013.796342">Recent research</a> tells us that primary school students and their parents want more male teachers. The reasons they give are social, not academic. </p>
<p>Boys <a href="http://www.parenthub.com.au/news/kids-news/male-primary-school-teachers/">and girls</a> want to understand how to interact with men. They want teachers that they can relate to, and they want teachers they can confide in.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/placing-a-cap-on-teaching-degrees-doesnt-guarantee-better-teachers-66272">diversity</a> of our teachers should reflect the diversity of society and that of the student population. </p>
<p>Education is not “women’s work”, but it sure seems that way if you’re seven years old.</p>
<h2>How to recruit more male teachers</h2>
<p><strong>1. Realistic goals</strong></p>
<p>Change takes time and needs direction. We need to know where we are and where we’re going. Setting realistic goals to increase the proportion of male teachers in schools is a start.</p>
<p><strong>2. Incentives</strong></p>
<p>Telling men that primary school students need role models or father figures are hardly incentives. </p>
<p>If scholarships are used to attract women into male-dominated professions, then it makes sense that education providers be allowed to use scholarships to attract men into female-dominated professions too. </p>
<p>Incentives for men to stay in the profession are less concerning. Those men who do enter teaching tend to have a longer average <a href="https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/media/downloads/about-us/statistics-and-research/key-statistics-and-reports/workforce-plan-4-school-teachers.pdf">career duration</a> than women.</p>
<p><strong>3. Improve the status of the profession</strong></p>
<p>It is difficult to target recruitment when teaching is regarded as one of the most <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-raise-status-of-teaching-australia-needs-to-lift-pay-and-cut-teacher-numbers-63518">undervalued and underpaid professions</a>. If we want more male teachers, this needs to change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66670/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin F. McGrath 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>We have scholarships specifically targeted at women to redress the gender imbalance in STEM subjects. So why can’t we do the same for men in primary education?Kevin F. McGrath, Department of Educational Studies, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/335892014-10-30T19:06:34Z2014-10-30T19:06:34ZWhat are scholarships for?<p>The University of Sydney’s Vice-Chancellor, Michael Spence, presumably achieved his political aim by <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/news/84.html?newscategoryid=243&newsstoryid=14236">announcing that his university</a> could offer scholarships to almost a third of its students if fees were deregulated. Education Minister Christopher Pyne enthusiastically used Spence’s announcement to <a href="http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=CHAMBER;id=chamber%2Fhansardr%2Fdb57a706-8c03-4a70-83a2-831cc00cf088%2F0138;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansardr%2Fdb57a706-8c03-4a70-83a2-831cc00cf088%2F0000%22">laud the benefits of fee deregulation</a> in parliamentary question time.</p>
<p>However, Fairfax’s BusinessDay contributing editor <a href="http://campusmorningmail.com.au/fixed-fossils-unsw-keep-old-energy-investments/">Michael Pascoe observed</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Odd game whereby uni pretends much higher fees are needed to offer more scholarships needed because of higher fees.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The <a href="http://www.nteu.org.au/article/Media-Release%3A-Higher-fees-will-not-make-Sydney-University-a-fairer-institution--17027">National Tertiary Education Union found that </a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… the simple arithmetic of the new Commonwealth Scholarship scheme does not add up. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>On the figures the University of Sydney proposes, the third of students who would get a scholarship would “be on average $3,400 worse off than they are now”, in part because universities have to increase their fees by 30% just to compensate for the government’s proposed cut to university funding.</p>
<p>But presumably scholarships are <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-problem-with-commonwealth-scholarships-32828">meant to do more</a> than provide political cover for the government’s proposal to cut the current government scholarships and to introduce a policy that the government and most vice-chancellors want to introduce for other reasons. So what are the purposes of scholarships?</p>
<h2>To increase diversity?</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/higher-fees-mean-more-scholarships-says-sydney-universitys-michael-spence/story-e6frgcjx-1227102962886">Spence said </a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I would like this university to reflect the demographics of society as a whole.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>That ambitious aspiration would require the University of Sydney to more than triple its proportion of students from a low socioeconomic status background from 7.5% to 25%, <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/node/35979">an increase from 2,036 to 6,750</a> students.</p>
<p>Spence said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We are not just concerned about the disincentive effect of higher fees on students coming to university, but also the potential debt issue for people going into public good but low-paid careers [such as nursing, teaching and social work].</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But there is <a href="http://www.assa.edu.au/publications/occasional/2006_No2_Income_contingent_loans.pdf">no evidence that higher fees</a> have reduced enrolments in the past <a href="http://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv15411">nor that students don’t enrol</a> because they do not want to incur HELP loans.</p>
<p>The difficulty is that in Australia, the UK and the US <a href="http://www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/people/james_docs/Richard%20James,%20Dean's%20Lecture%20Series%20Sept2007.pdf">educational inequity starts much younger</a>, at least by primary school, where different levels of attainment shape aspirations and subsequent educational opportunities.</p>
<p>Particularly for highly selective universities such as the University of Sydney, it seems likely that programs to increase equity will need to start much earlier in children’s lives than the high school students to whom scholarships are usually targeted.</p>
<h2>For a competitive advantage?</h2>
<p>A second reason for scholarships is to increase universities’ competitive advantage. Many universities have substantial “merit” scholarships to attract high-scoring students. But even equity scholarships <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/sydney-university-scholarships-dream-a-nightmare-for-some/story-e6frgcjx-1227104079115">won’t necessarily increase the proportion of equity students</a> overall. </p>
<p>Elite institutions are likely to charge the highest fees generating the highest revenue to offer the biggest scholarships to equity students. They are likely to attract equity students from the institutions that charge lower fees and have more equity students and so can offer scholarships of lower value.</p>
<p>For example, Federation University Vice-Chancellor David Battersby <a href="http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=COMMITTEES;id=committees%2Fcommsen%2F7634a65f-301e-4ee9-8932-99d7e5efd482%2F0001;query=Id%3A%22committees%2Fcommsen%2F7634a65f-301e-4ee9-8932-99d7e5efd482%2F0000%22">told the Senate Committee Inquiry</a> that since almost a quarter of his university’s students are from a low socioeconomic background and his university expected to be able to increase its fees by rather less than other universities, scholarships would average about $30 per disadvantaged student at his university.</p>
<p>Such a competition for disadvantaged students <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/higher-fees-mean-more-scholarships-says-sydney-universitys-michael-spence/story-e6frgcjx-1227102962886">would benefit disadvantaged students</a> who previously may not have felt able to attend elite universities.</p>
<p>But it is not clear that this would allocate the most support to the most disadvantaged students. Neither is it likely to increase the proportion of equity students attending elite universities unless they substantially change their student outreach and selection policies.</p>
<h2>For redistribution?</h2>
<p>A third possible reason for scholarships is to redistribute resources from students who can afford to pay higher fees to students who cannot afford the cost of higher education, usually their living expenses. This has deep traditions within universities. At least as early as the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Medieval-Universities-Development-Organization/dp/0064712486">16th century, students at European universities</a> paid different fees according to their class, with poor students (<em>paupers</em>) paying no <em>bursa</em> or fee for living expenses.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63248/original/grhtcznz-1414629956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63248/original/grhtcznz-1414629956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63248/original/grhtcznz-1414629956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63248/original/grhtcznz-1414629956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63248/original/grhtcznz-1414629956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63248/original/grhtcznz-1414629956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63248/original/grhtcznz-1414629956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63248/original/grhtcznz-1414629956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Commonwealth scholarships will take from those who can afford it, and give to those who can’t. Kind of like Robin Hood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/1228011495/in/photolist-7pbJTe-6rNyo3-8QDVAg-aB3c7-aB3bj-oWuMx-pfET6S-2SvT2Z-4noph3-csQkA7-4B2ycY-adTKYR-aB3d2-aB39M-dJvTbN-oWtDE-7AF3qe-6rFKZv-fHfDdj-jYMuTr-pgqHQ9-7Sm5RX-ansBud-i5UGg-Byahq-6Rgzs-i5UHT-796BUV-4H3Nuu-gB3yB-ihd5xB-5jBoM3-3J2Bt-6rNxRd-hjMK5L-7ofHLz-aB3aL-adWzBb-aB3at-36q6yk-55VkkT-of4kag-6Dzo9E-csgqjm-5FbqsF-KMBd-5Vf2a7-9QMT4U-8gJJd-9f4ZmB">Flickr/Andrew Becraft</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Australian universities have funded scholarships out of tuition fees since their foundation 150 years ago.</p>
<p>This arrangement is common in the USA and Canada. For example, what are known as tuition set-asides are <a href="http://www.sheeo.org/sites/default/files/SHEEO%20Query%20three%20finance%20questions%20Feb%202013%20with%20update%20from%20Texas.pdf">mandated in Florida</a> and <a href="http://www.pvamu.edu/fsrv/treasury-services/designated-tuition-set-aside/">Texas</a>. Ontario colleges and universities are <a href="https://osap.gov.on.ca/OSAPPortal/en/PostsecondaryEducation/OSAP/OSAP004003.html">required to set aside 30%</a> of their tuition revenue for financial aid.</p>
<p>An iconic form of fee redistribution practised by some elite US universities with very big resources is needs-blind admission, where the university admits students regardless of their capacity to pay the university’s very high fees and offers equity students the amount of financial aid they need to attend university. Spence claims that fee deregulation would allow his university to take a small step toward needs-blind admission.</p>
<p>However, such admission policies improve universities’ equity performance only marginally. <a href="http://0-eric.ed.gov.opac.msmc.edu/?q=source%3A%22Review+of+Higher+Education%22&ff1=eduHigher+Education&id=EJ1038874">A study of the 80 most selective</a> private US institutions found that an increase in institutional grant aid per student of 1% was associated with an increase in the enrolment of equity students of only 0.03%. Institutions that granted financial aid in the form of grants had 0.97% more equity students than institutions that granted financial aid in the form of loans.</p>
<h2>Equity practitioners</h2>
<p>Australia is fortunate in having university <a href="http://www.adcet.edu.au/edequity/">equity practitioners</a> who are expert in their fields, strongly committed to increasing equity in higher education and have good processes for collaborating and cooperating in equity policies, practices and programs.</p>
<p>One may be confident that they would develop student outreach and financial support programs to ameliorate the regressive effects of the Coalition’s policies. However, thus far they seem to have been mostly bypassed by a government and by vice-chancellors who seem more concerned with winning a political argument than improving opportunities for disadvantaged students.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/33589/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gavin Moodie 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>The University of Sydney’s Vice-Chancellor, Michael Spence, presumably achieved his political aim by announcing that his university could offer scholarships to almost a third of its students if fees were…Gavin Moodie, Adjunct professor, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/285042014-06-30T20:28:40Z2014-06-30T20:28:40ZScholarship scheme could increase the regional brain drain<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52521/original/gzcn554z-1404086268.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Regional universities are worried regional students will be drawn to urban universities if scholarships aren't centrally pooled</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sumanjay/4628509653">Flickr/Sumanjay</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the 2014-15 budget, the government announced a new <a href="https://education.gov.au/public-universities">Commonwealth Scholarship scheme</a>. This will require higher education institutions to commit $1 in every $5 of additional revenue to the scheme “to support student access, participation and success”. At a recent workshop in Canberra, approximately 100 representatives from the sector met key government personnel to discuss how this might work. </p>
<p>Among the issues raised was a palpable concern among some non-metropolitan institutions that the scholarships will spark a regional brain drain of the best and brightest away from the bush to the big city. The fear is that urban (particularly Group of Eight) universities are likely to increase fees more substantially than regional universities due to demand, meaning if universities administer scholarships, regionals won’t have as many to dole out. </p>
<h2>Regional universities are in greater need</h2>
<p>A vice-chancellor at one regional university has <a href="http://blog.csu.edu.au/">referred</a> to the scholarships as “a fundamentally regressive proposal”, which will encourage elite urban universities to target regional students.</p>
<p>Current higher education equity policy identifies six equity groups. They are: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Indigenous students</p></li>
<li><p>Women studying in non-traditional areas</p></li>
<li><p>Students with disabilities</p></li>
<li><p>Students from rural and isolated areas</p></li>
<li><p>Students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds; and</p></li>
<li><p>Students from non-English-speaking backgrounds.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52525/original/h3xncj69-1404088377.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52525/original/h3xncj69-1404088377.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52525/original/h3xncj69-1404088377.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52525/original/h3xncj69-1404088377.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52525/original/h3xncj69-1404088377.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52525/original/h3xncj69-1404088377.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52525/original/h3xncj69-1404088377.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52525/original/h3xncj69-1404088377.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Regional universities have higher enrolments of disadvantaged students.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kwloo/5821909298">Flickr/Wilson Loo Kok Wee</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These groups will be the focus of the scholarships and regional universities tend to have above-average enrolments in most of them. The most recent Department of Education <a href="http://docs.education.gov.au/node/33859">statistics</a> on higher education equity groups show that, with the exception of students from a non-English-speaking background, universities comprising the <a href="http://www.run.edu.au/">Regional Universities Network</a> have higher-than-average enrolments of the above groups of students. </p>
<p>In the Regional Universities Network institutions, 27.6% of domestic undergraduate enrolments are classified as students coming from the lowest socio-economic quartile. The <a href="http://docs.education.gov.au/node/33859">national average</a> is 15.5%. Cost-of-living pressures are a real issue for many regional students and the right type of scholarships will certainly encourage more of them to move to major cities. </p>
<h2>Regional students are already at a disadvantage</h2>
<p>Department of Education <a href="https://education.gov.au/undergraduate-applications-offers-and-acceptances-publications">data</a> show that regional students are often attracted to the cities to undertake studies not offered locally, such as medicine. Furthermore, high-achieving regional students have tended to <a href="http://www.industry.gov.au/highereducation/Documents/AusRegionHigherEd-StudentCharExp.pdf">prefer</a> metropolitan universities. For these and other reasons, there has always been a flow of students out of the regions and into the urban areas.</p>
<p>However, it is unclear whether metropolitan universities would specifically target regional students through scholarships. Instead, they may choose to offer more generic scholarships, open to all equity groups, with applicants ranked by academic merit. </p>
<p>Given the <a href="http://grattan.edu.au/static/files/assets/205fbc0e/195-Keep-the-caps-off.pdf">strong evidence</a> of a link between socio-economic status and academic performance (when measured by <a href="http://www.uac.edu.au/undergraduate/atar/">ATAR</a>), we might find regionally based low-socioeconomic students struggling to compete for these scholarships. This doesn’t mean regional students have less academic potential than their city cousins. It does, however, highlight our educational system’s structural flaws, which disadvantage some groups of students and a lot of them grow up outside our major urban areas.</p>
<h2>How can regional universities get ahead?</h2>
<p>If the scholarships proceed as planned, regional universities still have some potential advantages.</p>
<p>First, the government is proposing that each university will administer its own scholarships. This is attractive to many universities as it provides them with an opportunity to market themselves. However, for the student it’s potentially nightmarish, requiring multiple applications across various institutions. If the regional universities could agree on a single application process and work together to promote the merits of a universal, regional scholarship, this might be attractive to their students and encourage them to stay.</p>
<p>Second, the current focus on scholarships will hopefully reinvigorate regional universities’ attempts to attract philanthropic scholarship funding, perhaps even on the same scale as Andrew Forrest’s recent <a href="http://www.philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/andrew-nicola-forrest-give-65-million-to-university-of-western-australia">$65 million bequest</a> to Western Australian universities. Other mining magnates, such as Clive Palmer or Joe Gutnick, might be encouraged to do more to support the universities in the very regions that have made them wealthy. These could be stand-alone scholarships or jointly funded ones, with the universities asking philanthropists to match their own scholarships revenue dollar-for-dollar.</p>
<p>It is likely the proposed scholarship scheme will encourage more, not less, regional students to move. The extent to which it will constitute a “brain drain” depends on several factors. First, the extent to which elite metropolitan universities will be able to generate more scholarships revenue compared to regional universities. Second, whether or not these scholarships target regional students. Third, the overall number of scholarships made available. </p>
<p>Although concerning for regional universities, the proposed structure of the scholarships is in line with the government’s focus on the language of “choice”. It also aligns with broader equity principles of equal opportunity and greater support for disadvantaged students.</p>
<p>Regional universities are a cornerstone of our national higher education system and, as a general principle, need to be supported. However, in this particular instance, the focus needs to be on the regional student and not the regional university.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/28504/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Pitman is affiliated with the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education</span></em></p>In the 2014-15 budget, the government announced a new Commonwealth Scholarship scheme. This will require higher education institutions to commit $1 in every $5 of additional revenue to the scheme “to support…Tim Pitman, Senior Research Fellow, National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/273212014-06-03T20:23:29Z2014-06-03T20:23:29ZThe scholarship fig leaf: they won’t improve access for all<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49724/original/v9kp2mv8-1401335671.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Are new equity scholarships expected to increase access, or are they just a fig leaf to garner support for a harsh education budget?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/6866440825">Flickr/Thomas Hawk</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Alongside higher fees and real interest rates on student debts, this year’s federal budget announced 20% of universities’ additional revenue will go towards equity scholarships. But will this measure increase the proportion of underrepresented students in Australian universities, or is it a fig leaf to sell a budget package that would otherwise be seen as an attack on equity and access?</p>
<p>As many commentators have noted, budget reforms will very likely increase stratification between universities and reduce access for students from underrepresented groups. These groups include Aboriginal students, students from low socio-economic backgrounds and students from remote communities.</p>
<p>Education Minister Christopher Pyne said the purpose of these scholarships was to <a href="http://www.pyneonline.com.au/media/media-releases/building-a-world-class-higher-education-system">“expand opportunities”</a> for these very students. Whether they will work to that effect seems unlikely for a number of reasons.</p>
<h2>The devil is in the detail</h2>
<p>First, how much money will each scholarship offer? If it is just a few thousand per year, as is typical in many Australian universities, it probably won’t be very effective for increasing the numbers of underrepresented students.</p>
<p>Especially for students from rural/remote areas, the housing costs associated with attending university are very high. The University of Western Australia, for example, estimates that students need a minimum of $23,500 per year for living costs. To truly expand opportunities for low-income students from rural communities, scholarships would need to be substantial and not just pocket change for books and supplies.</p>
<p>Second, on which basis will the scholarships be allocated? If they are based on merit (eg, on ATAR scores), they will most likely go to middle- and high-income students who would go to university anyway, as plenty of <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED468845.pdf">research from the US</a> has shown.</p>
<p>Academic achievement is strongly related to socioeconomic status and family background. On average, students from lower-income and lower socioeconomic backgrounds have lower test scores and other educational outcomes than their more privileged peers. </p>
<p>This is because access to educational resources and opportunities, both at home and at school, is not distributed equally throughout society. Merit-based scholarships therefore reward bright students but rarely expand opportunities for low-income students. </p>
<p>This leads to the third issue. If we want to expand opportunities for low-income students, we need a mechanism for identifying them. How do you know if someone is from a low socioeconomic background? Most universities use a student’s residential postcode to determine this. </p>
<p>The problem, however, is that postcode is an accurate way to assess socioeconomic status <a href="http://www.vetnetwork.org.au/_dbase_upl/Measuring_the_socioeconomic_status_of_Australian_youth.pdf">only about 60% of the time</a>. In other words, it’s not much better than a coin toss. For scholarships to expand opportunity, we would need a better way to assess financial need. </p>
<p>Using a postcode isn’t good enough – there are plenty of highly educated, moderately well-paid professionals who live in modest neighbourhoods (myself included). Should their children receive scholarships simply because of the location of their home? Similar examples can be found among prosperous farming families.</p>
<h2>Delivery could cost more than scholarships are worth</h2>
<p>To accurately assess financial need, we would need a mechanism similar to the <a href="https://fafsa.ed.gov/">Free Application for Federal Student Aid</a>, administered by the US federal government. It provides a very detailed and complex portrait of a family’s financial need. Just completing the form takes one hour. </p>
<p>While accurate and transparent, this process is also expensive to run. The managing office has over 1,000 employees. Given the Australian government’s attempts to reduce funding to higher education, it is unlikely to invest in such a mechanism.</p>
<p>Universities could create their own mechanisms for assessing financial need and managing financial aid packages, as is done in the US. Again, however, this is an expensive undertaking. Even moderately sized universities in the US would typically employ 30 or more employees to run such an endeavour. For Australian universities, the cost of this approach would likely exceed the money allocated for scholarships.</p>
<p>Given these scholarships are unlikely to have the desired effect, the proposal is either naive and ill-considered, or a fig leaf to sell an unfair and inequitable budget. Neither conclusion paints a very favourable picture.</p>
<p>Deregulating university fees will create a Pandora’s box of equity problems. Pyne, like many non-education specialists, wants to emulate the market-based approach of the US system. </p>
<p>While choice, diversity and healthy competition can be good features to promote, policies need to be created to ameliorate negative impacts on access for underrepresented students. The US system does this through its financial aid programs. While these programs are probably not suitable for the Australian system, another solution would need to be developed. </p>
<p>The current solution – Pyne’s scholarship programs – needs a lot more thought to be effective.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27321/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Perry has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Alongside higher fees and real interest rates on student debts, this year’s federal budget announced 20% of universities’ additional revenue will go towards equity scholarships. But will this measure increase…Laura Perry, Senior Lecturer in Education Policy and Comparative Education, Murdoch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/271652014-05-29T20:39:21Z2014-05-29T20:39:21ZWho’s your daddy? Myths of merit and elite education scholarships<blockquote>
<p>Please answer all questions. 1. Who’s your daddy? _______ Thank you for your application. We will take a cursory glance at your folio and inform you of our decision.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is from a fake application form for admission to the Whitehouse Institute of Design circulating on Facebook. The scholarship awarded to the Prime Minister’s daughter by this institute and his claim that she won it on merit have met much scepticism.</p>
<p>Education Minister Christopher Pyne has claimed that access for disadvantaged students will be improved through new merit-based scholarships. But how fair are Mr Pyne’s scholarships and how fair is “merit” for that matter?</p>
<h2>Reforms will perpetuate inequality</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/more-expensive-more-elite-higher-education-in-five-years-26641">Many observers predict</a> an increasing gap between the “best” universities and “the rest” now that caps have been removed on what they can charge. “The rest” will predictably flounder, as public and new private providers compete on price.</p>
<p>“The rest” is where most pre-degree qualifications are located, so these will suffer too. So what’s the problem if scholarships are also offered in this less wealthy and esteemed part of the sector? Existing patterns of access won’t change. The vast bulk of students from poor families will continue to attend poorly funded institutions and acquire qualifications that pay far fewer dividends. </p>
<p>What of the “best”? With the freedom to charge whatever fees the market will bear, Australia’s elite universities will become ever more expensive and exclusive. Students from elite schools are already over-represented at these universities. Will the new needs-based scholarships challenge this situation? And anyway, why are students from elite schools over-represented? Is it because of merit?</p>
<h2>Elite schools and merit</h2>
<p>Elite schools claim merit as their signature. But merit is a slippery term with a lot of social subtext.</p>
<p>There are two types of elite schools in this country. There are academically selective schools in the government school sector. “Merit” here is problematic, because of private tutoring. It is widely known, although not verified through research, that tutoring is commonplace. It has helped many students to get in and helps many to get through with the top grades required for direct progress to the top of the education ladder. But the proportion of such schools in the overall schooling sector is small. </p>
<p>The biggest proportion of elite schools is in the private sector with most in the independent sector. Wealth is their main entry criterion, although they usually have merit entry tests. Such schools provide small numbers of scholarships, usually for merit in fields the school wants to enhance such as music, sport and academia. A merit/need formula may apply, but their scholarships are seldom just need-based. </p>
<p>More broadly, these elite schools claim merit mainly on the basis of their elevated exit results. As economic, cultural and social capital abound, the table is always set for educational and career success. </p>
<p>Elite schools take no chances with their reputations for merit. Their students are carefully groomed for success — which is primarily understood as gaining entry to the most prestigious universities and faculties. This constrains curriculum engagement and students’ plans for their future. </p>
<p>Students are hot-housed, which involves inculcating a hyper-competitive, hyper-ambitious mindset. Hot-housing produces a school climate in which there is pressure on students to be merit trophies for the school, their families and each other. In the case of elite private schools, hot-housing also means having access to the best learning opportunities and resources money can buy — in academic studies, the arts and sport. Everything is available to help students “be the best they can be”.</p>
<p>As David Gonski stressed in his <a href="https://www.google.com.au/search?q=gonski+report+pdf&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb&gfe_rd=cr&ei=GYaGU8uaJOHC8geHwIDYDA">report on school funding</a>, the differences between highly and poorly resourced schools are painfully stark. The consequences for students in poor schools are dire, as they are for the nation in terms of national educational achievement and equity.</p>
<h2>The elite school-elite university nexus</h2>
<p>The cards are heavily stacked in favour of students from elite schools. This is why they are over-represented in elite universities and why such students will often win “merit” scholarships. Further, the best-funded merit/needs scholarships in elite universities usually require very high end-of-school results. Even the cleverest students from poor backgrounds and from poorly resourced schools are unlikely to achieve the necessary results.</p>
<p>These students may, however, be “let in” under other access programs with less financial support. The system is heavily stacked against such students. So too is the typical mindset of many elite universities. </p>
<p>After a cursory nod to the links between educational success and poverty, this mindset assumes that an individual’s end-of-school results are the best gauge of merit and potential. It thus fails to understand the depth and scale of systemic educational disadvantage.</p>
<p>It is not valid or fair to compare the end-of-school results of advantaged students with the results of disadvantaged students. Hence the logic of allocating elite university places and scholarships on the basis of-end-of school results alone is being questioned by some of the more open-minded.</p>
<p>Further, because of the links between elite schools, socio-economic advantage, private tutoring and hot-housing, their students’ final results are inflated. Their results are thus not a good predictor of university success. <a href="http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/workingpapers/2008/twerp657.pdf">Research evidence</a> shows that, once left to their own devices, elite school students perform no better and often less well than their comparable government schools peers. </p>
<p>But what will happen when elite university fees skyrocket under Mr Pyne’s plans? Who but the rich will be able to afford the fees or the subsequent debt? Unless there is a major mind shift, the nexus between elite schools and elite universities will predictably tighten.</p>
<p>Predictably too elite public universities will become more like elite private schools: citadels of privilege in an overall system where “the rest” are under-resourced. And who will win the “equity” scholarships that increase as a direct result of these universities’ fee rises? </p>
<p>It is improbable that these universities will alter their scholarship requirement for exceptionally high entry scores. So most students from poor families and schools won’t even come close to claiming such scholarships. </p>
<p>Unless elite universities are more intelligent about merit, access and their grounds for awarding all scholarships, money will continue to be the main path to merit. And, ultimately, “Who’s your daddy?” will still matter a great deal.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Read The Conversation’s coverage of fee deregulation and proposed changes to the sector in the 2014 federal budget <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/fee-deregulation">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27165/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Kenway receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>Please answer all questions. 1. Who’s your daddy? _______ Thank you for your application. We will take a cursory glance at your folio and inform you of our decision. This is from a fake application form…Jane Kenway, Professorial Fellow: Australian Research Council, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.