STARS Student Equity Network Meeting

STARS Conference
22 JUNE 2021
Nadine Zacharias, Director, Student Engagement, Swinburne University ofTechnology
KylieAustin, Wollongong University; President, Equity Practitioners in HE Australasia (EPHEA)
Sally Kift,Visiting Professorial Fellow, NCSEHE, Curtin University

AUSTRALIA STUDENT EQUITY POLICY
FRAMEWORK
• Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program (HEPPP): 2010 – 2020
• Objective: universities to undertake activities and implement strategies that improve access to
undergraduate courses for people from low SES backgrounds and improve their retention and
completion rates
• Focus: providers should tailor their programs to address the specific disadvantage, as
appropriate, to the demographics of their low SES student population and applicants.
• Exclusions: infrastructure, transport vehicles and general facilities and services
• Structure: spans the student lifecycle
• Governed by Other Grants Guidelines (Education) 2012 pursuant to the HESA
• In 2020, worth AU$134m and allocated based on a funding formula to 37 public universities; plus
NPP ($6.5m per annum)

Zacharias & Brett (2019) The Best Chance for All

POLICY FRAMEWORK – JOB-READY
GRADUATES
• 2020
• New Indigenous, Regional and Low SESAttainment Fund (IRLSAF) as part of the Job-Ready
Graduates Package from 2021 and in response to the Napthine Review.
• Focus: Indigenous students, students from low SES and regional backgrounds.
• Intent: realign existing funding by combining the HEPPP, regional loading and enabling loading.
More flexibility for universities to use their funding to best serve the needs of their local
communities.
• Partnerships:A new Regional Partnerships Project Pool will provide $7.1 million over four years to
support outreach activities that increase the aspiration of school students in regional Australia to
attend university.

HEPPP ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS –
COMMON ISSUES
• Use of HEPPP funds to support other student cohorts, including international and
postgraduate students. This is not eligible activity, and the department expects that
participation of persons from non-low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds in HEPPP
activities is funded through other sources. As per Section 1.50.10, Chapter 1 of the Guidelines,
HEPPP Participation funds were required to be used for activities that benefit current and
prospective domestic undergraduate students from low SES backgrounds [now also
Indigenous and RRR].
• Use of HEPPP funds for general student wellbeing and academic services and programs
that are available for broader current or prospective student cohorts.This is not eligible
activity. As stated in Section 1.50.15, Chapter 1 of the Guidelines, HEPPP funds are not to be
used for general facilities and services that are not principally for the benefit of persons from
low SES backgrounds[now also Indigenous and RRR].
• Evidence of participation by low SES students in HEPPP-funded activities is often limited
and, in some instances, not reported.While it is recognised that there is a degree of overlap
where students may be from a low SES background and belong to other identified equity
groups, reporting must demonstrate that HEPPP activities are reaching the target cohort.

STUDENT EQUITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
EVALUATION FRAMEWORK (SEHEEF) –
ISSR, UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND
Purpose
The purpose of the SEHEEF is to support and guide
three levels of evaluation:
• a national program evaluation of the HEPPP,
• quality-improvement evaluations of university
HEPPP-funded activities,
• evaluations of the effectiveness of university
HEPPP-funded activities.
Approach
The project will take a co-design approach with the sector to
ensure that it builds on current evaluation activity and expertise,
and the end result meets the needs of the sector.
1. Building blocks for the Evaluation Framework (e.g.,
Program Logic, Evaluation Questions and System Map) via
rapid literature review, stakeholder workshops, and
alignment with potential Widening Participation
Longitudinal Study.
2. Audit of existing data sources, opportunities for data
linkage between existing data collections in relation to
HEPPP activities, and gaps and opportunities for primary
data collection.
3. Evaluation Framework and an accompanying Guidance
Manual.
9-month project to design a robust, flexible, and stakeholder-
informed Evaluation Framework

Products and pathways in the lifelong learning
ecosystem.
https://www.pathwaysreview.edu.au/

Shergold Review Paper
Figure 7
Background:
How well do students
understand pathways?
How well do you feel you understand these pathways?
https://www.pathwaysreview.edu.au/

AQF Review
Strong equity underpinnings
• AQF to help shape a future in which “central economic & social policy goals are to widen
participation in education & training, and to improve educational attainment levels,
particularly among those with low levels of participation and attainment.”
• Lifelong learning must become “a practical reality” for all.
Credit Pathways & Recognition
• Rec 11: Revise & rename the AQF Qualifications Pathway Policy to better recognise &
encourage broader credit recognition, both within & between sectors
• Rec 12: Develop & test a prototype AQF credit point system for voluntary use by providers…
to give students & providers a nationally consistent ‘currency’ for negotiating credit transfer.
• Rec 13: Provide more detailed guidance on recognition of prior learning in Pathways Policy.
https://www.dese.gov.au/reviews-and-consultations/australian-qualifications-framework-review

Foundational
post-secondary
qualification for
entry-level
employability
Vocational
Education
Blended VET-HE qual
Higher
Education
Short courses
Microcredentials
CPD
Free DIY upskilling
TAFE
Experience from
Learning Integrated Work
On the job training
with
Access to good career advising
Lifelong Learning Record
RPL/RPExp enabled
LIFELONG LEARNING ECOSYSTEM
Founded on universal access to tertiary
education

Unquestioning embrace of MCs absent overarching lifelong learning narrative is problematic
How to support all students, & particularly equity & FiF students, to navigate the MC hype?
• Issues include:
• Chakroun & Keevy (2018): risk that “stacking to form a macro-credential will not be conceptually sound
and…not be recognizable by employers. Hence stacking…may not always lead to coherent qualifications”.
• Healy (2021): MCs unlikely to be “tickets to employment in own right”. Careers’ advice challenges –
 Are MCs necessary for learners particular goals?
 Learners may miscalculate their workforce skills’ needs
 Learners may lack skills to express MCs’ value to employers in coherent employability narrative
• Buchanan et al (2020): unhelpful “fragmentation of education”
• Moodie & Wheelahan (2020): MCs “are the most recent attempt to improve the match between
education & work by changing education, while leaving work [again] unchanged”.
• Boud & Jorre de St Jorre (2021): can’t assure macro cred learning – repackaging existing units into MCs
“must be regarded with suspicion”.

QUESTIONING MICRO-CREDENTIALS:
REFERENCES
• Boud, D. & Jorre de St Jorre, T. (2021). The move to micro-credentials exposes the deficiencies of existing credentials TheJournal
ofTeaching and Learning for Graduate Employability https://ojs.deakin.edu.au/index.php/jtlge/article/view/1023
• Buchanan J., Allais S., Anderson M., Calvo R. A., Peter S. & Pietsch T. (2020). The futures of work: what education can and can’t do
Paris: UNESCO https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000374435
• Chakroun, B., & Keevy, J. (2018). Digital credentialing: implications for the recognition of learning across borders. Paris: UNESCO
https://unevoc.unesco.org/home/Digital%20Cred%20Report#:~:text=Digital%20Credentialing%20%E2%80%93%20Implications%2
0for%20the,of%20skills%20and%20learning%20systems
• Healy, M. (2021) Microcredential learners need quality careers and employability support. TheJournal ofTeaching and Learning for
Graduate Employability https://ojs.deakin.edu.au/index.php/jtlge/article/view/1071/1058
• Kift, S. (2021). Future work and learning in a disrupted world: ‘The Best Chance for All’. TheJournal ofTeaching and Learning for
Graduate Employability https://ojs.deakin.edu.au/index.php/jtlge/article/view/1015
• Moodie, G. & Wheelahan, L. (2020, Winter). Zombie skills sets resurrected as micro credentials The Australian TAFE Teacher. 12-
15. https://issuu.com/aeufederal/docs/tattwinter2020_single_page
• Noonan, P., Blagaich, A., Kift, S., Lilly, M., Loble, L., More, E. & Persson, M. (2019). Review of the AustralianQualifications
Framework Final Report 2019. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. https://www.dese.gov.au/reviews-and-
consultations/australian-qualifications-framework-review
• Tomlinson, M., &Anderson,V. (2020). Employers and graduates:The mediating role of signals and capitals. Journal of Higher
Education Policy and Management. doi: 10.1080/1360080X.2020.1833126

EQUITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION PANEL –
an equity roadmap towards 2024
Membership
• Mr Rob Heferen,Chair (ex officio), Deputy Secretary - Higher Education, Research and
InternationalGroup, Department of Education, Skills and Employment
• Professor Penny Jane Burke, Director - Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education
and Global Innovation,The University of Newcastle
• Dr Daniel Edwards, Research Director -Tertiary Education Research Program,Australian
Council for Educational Research
• Dr Leanne Holt,Chair - NationalAboriginal andTorres Strait Islander Higher Education
Consortium, ProVice-Chancellor (Indigenous Strategy), Macquarie University
• Professor Denise Kirkpatrick,Acting Senior DeputyVice-Chancellor,Western Sydney
University
• Professor Nick Klomp,Vice-Chancellor and President,CQUniversity Australia
• Professor Simon Maddocks, formerVice-Chancellor and President,Charles Darwin
University
• Professor Adam Shoemaker,Vice-Chancellor and President,VictoriaUniversity
• Dr GuineverThrelkeld, ProVice-Chancellor (Regional), LaTrobeUniversity
• Professor DeniseWood AM, ProVice-Chancellor (Students), University of the Sunshine
Coast
Purpose
The purpose of Equity in Higher Education Panel is to:
• provide advice and make recommendations to
the Department of Education, Skills, and
Employment on strategic issues relating to
improving student equity in higher education;
• develop a Student Equity in Higher Education
Roadmap, a five year strategy aligned with the
reform agenda to drive and support wider
aspiration, improved access, participation,
retention, success, and completion and better
transition to employment outcomes of students
from under-represented groups nationally.
A high level strategic advisory body with a focus on student equity in higher education.

STATE OF STUDENT EQUITY IN
HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
Despite an ongoing policy commitment to student equity and a relatively stable funding envelope, there has been shifts in how higher education institutions have continued to
implement equity policy as they grapple with the impacts of COVID-19.
A recent survey conducted by EPHEA, has identified the following trends across Australian HEI’s:
• There has been a reduction in dedicated, visible student equity teams, with a number of equity teams being subsumed into other units (i.e. student recruitment,
student support);
• There has been a substantial loss of student equity focused staff, with a number of institutions reporting a loss of over 50% of their equity focused staff;
• Equity continues to feature in all universities strategic planning documents, however, practitioners largely felt that this was not being enacted.
• The majority of universities identified that there was an absence of an Executive Champion for equity within their institution.

STATE OF STUDENT EQUITY IN HIGHER
EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS (Continued)
• Universities have shifted their practice in response to the introduction of IRLSAF in the following ways:
• Broadening of representation on internal HEPPP governance committees, such as the inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander staff.
• Knowledge sharing and coordination across various university units that have responsibility over Indigenous, LSES and
Regional student success.
• Expansion of school’s outreach and widening participation initiatives into regional, rural and remote communities.
• Increased financial commitment to scholarships, that include accommodation, for regional students.
• Increased funding allocated to Regional and Indigenous cohorts.

STATE OF STUDENT EQUITY IN HIGHER
EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS (Continued)
• In the development of future equity policy, equity practitioners to date have requested that the following
be considered:
• Greater clarity provided on the intersection of diverse student equity funding sources, such as Disability Support
Fund, HEPPP and the Indigenous Student Success Program.
• Ensuring that there are safeguards to continue the separation between outreach and widening participation, and
student recruitment initiatives.
• Australian HEI’s are currently operating in a constrained financial environment. Most universities reported a
decrease in staffing for general student support services, which will impact equity students disproportionately than
the broader student cohort.

NETWORK OUTPUTS
• The current Equity policy is descriptive and allows opportunity for institutional interpretation. This has led to diverse
implementations of equity policy by HEI’s across Australia,
• The goal of the Equity Network for 2021, is to produce a set of recommendations that could be put forward to the Equity
in Higher Education Panel to consider in the development of the Equity Roadmap and future equity policy.
future equity policy.
• What are the ‘non-negotiables’ that we want Australian HEI’s to adhere to that is guided by national equity policy?

Breakout rooms: topics
1. Products and pathways in the lifelong learning ecosystem
2. Approaches to Widening Participation: the role of universities and other
stakeholders
3. Subsidising general service provision with HEPPP funding: necessary or
nefarious practice?

STARS Student Equity Network Meeting

STARS Student Equity Network Meeting

Empfohlen

Empfohlen

Weitere ähnliche Inhalte

Was ist angesagt?

Was ist angesagt? (20)

Ähnlich wie STARS Student Equity Network Meeting

Ähnlich wie STARS Student Equity Network Meeting (20)

Mehr von National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education

Mehr von National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (20)

Kürzlich hochgeladen

Kürzlich hochgeladen (20)

STARS Student Equity Network Meeting