BUDGET MUST SEIZE OPPORTUNITY OF HEALTHY SURPLUS TO IMPROVE INDIGENOUS ACCESS TO UNI
May 7, 2007
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) believes tomorrow’s federal budget must seize the opportunity created by a healthy surplus to channel funds into helping stem the decline in the number of Indigenous students attending universities.
“There is growing evidence that Indigenous students are not only seriously under-represented in our public university system, but that the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous student participation is widening,” said Andrew Nette, NTEU Policy and Research Coordinator.
“As the Government’s own statistics make clear, the number of Indigenous students attending university decreased by 5.9% in 2005, compared to an overall increase in all other university students of 1.3%.”
“The Government has acknowledged that continuing declines in Indigenous involvement in higher education will perpetuate disadvantages experienced by Indigenous Australians and hinder their full participation in Australia’s economic and social development.”
“With a healthy surplus, now is the time to see some of the initiatives aimed at dealing with the problem of Indigenous participation reflected in the measures announced in the budget.”
“The provision of funding for appropriate levels of student income support, coupled with appropriate curriculum development and delivery methods, would act as a support and an incentive for Indigenous students to participate and succeed in further education, with long-term economic and social benefits that far out weigh the costs of implementing the scheme.”
“The Union has put forward to the Government, in the lead-up to the budget, a number of proposals which could significantly improve Indigenous students’ access to and sustained participation in higher education courses at minimal cost to the Government.”
“These recommendations relate to the formulation of a new and more streamlined Indigenous specific student income support scheme that is culturally and economically relevant to Indigenous students.”
“NTEU believes that ABSTUDY, the current Indigenous student income support scheme, does not recognise the severe social and economic disadvantage of Indigenous higher education students.”
“In addition, changes made to the scheme over the last 10 years have resulted in ABSTUDY being mainstreamed with other student income support schemes, leading to a decline in the number of students able to access the scheme.”
The Union’s submission to the 2006/7 Federal Budget is available at: http://www.nteu.org.au/policy/submissions/submissions05/IndigBudget
For Further Information and Comment Contact:
Andrew Nette, NTEU Policy and research Coordinator: (03) 9254 1910
Emma Cull, NTEU Policy and Research Officer: (03) 9254 1910