Kulbardi Aboriginal Centre has received a research grant to investigate how universities can best support Indigenous students.

New research led by Murdoch University’s Kulbardi Aboriginal Centre, alongside researchers from Edith Cowan University, will examine how universities can better support Indigenous students through their studies.

Dr Bep Uink, Research Fellow at Kulbardi Aboriginal Centre, explained while Indigenous students are enrolling in university degrees at historically high rates, they are not necessarily completing their qualifications, signalling an enrolment-completion gap.

The team hopes to determine relationships between institutional support and Indigenous student progression.”

The research project has received funding under the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE) Research Grants Program for 2020-21.

“As part of this project, we will map Indigenous students’ use of university support services, including academic, pastoral, cultural, financial, health, equity and wellbeing initiatives,” Dr Uink said.  

“A cohort analysis of Indigenous students enrolled at two Western Australian universities over the past five years will give us a fuller picture of the Indigenous student journey.”

Researchers will look at university data such as enrolments in support programs and student grades. They will also talk with Indigenous students about what aspects of the university helped them progress through their degrees.

“To date, very little research looks at the university-level factors which predict Indigenous student progression, and this will be one of the first projects to pool pre-existing data to look at patterns of extra-curricular support access in Indigenous students,” said Dr Uink.

The findings will be used to provide equity practitioners and university staff an evidence-based insight into the types of supports that Indigenous university students are using and how access to these supports is related to students’ success in their degrees.

Researchers will also consider the impact transitioning support fully online may have on Indigenous student progression, through a comparison of data collected pre- and post-COVID-19.

“With COVID-19 we saw the transition of student support programs online, so we are particularly interested in students’ perspectives on how this shift impacted or changed the level of support they received,” said Dr Uink. 

Dr Uink said that receipt of the NCSEHE grant provides recognition of the need for research that investigates ways in which universities can best support Indigenous students.

“The NCSEHE is extremely proactive in this area and we are thankful for the opportunity to explore the ways in which universities can not only be places where students come to learn their degree content, but where they are supported to participate fully.”