‘We need more mob doing research’: developing university strategies to facilitate successful pathways for Indigenous students into Higher Degrees by Research

ABSTRACT

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are still grossly under-represented in Higher Degrees by Research (HDRs) when compared to non-Indigenous students. Developing the pipeline of Indigenous students from undergraduate to postgraduate study remains key to increasing the number of Indigenous students undertaking HDRs. While much of the existing work has historically focused on explaining failure, more recent research has argued that the focus should instead be on deepening our understanding of the factors contributing to Indigenous student success. This paper reports on findings from a National Teaching Fellowship that explored how universities can increase the number of Indigenous students transitioning from undergraduate study to HDRs. Drawing on interviews with Indigenous HDR graduates, key success factors to enter into a HDR are examined. The paper also discusses outcomes from the fellowship that include strategies for successful pathways into HDRs for Indigenous students for university Faculties/Schools, individual staff, Indigenous Centres, and Graduate Research Schools. By knowing and acting upon the kinds of mechanisms that can assist Indigenous students to pathway into HDRs, universities can build successful strategies to increase Indigenous HDR enrolments across Australia and stimulate change in universities to implement stronger research pathways from undergraduate to postgraduate study for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

KEYWORDS:

• Indigenous students
• Higher Degrees by Research
• student success

Acknowledgements

Support for this fellowship was provided by the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching. The views of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching. I am grateful to the members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advisory group for their feedback and guidance throughout the fellowship: Clair Andersen, Yvonne Cadet-James, Graeme Gower, Heidi Norman, Sandy O’Sullivan, Cindy Shannon, Juanita Sellwood and Felecia Watkin-Lui. Many thanks to formative evaluator Susan Page for her advice and also to summative evaluator Carmen Robertson for her encouragement and support throughout the fellowship. Aunty Denise Proud painted the beautiful artwork titled Building pathways to research for the fellowship for which I am very grateful. I also sincerely thank all of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander HDR graduates and university staff who work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander HDR students who were interviewed as part of the fellowship. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Unit at the University of Queensland provided a supportive environment.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Katelyn Barney http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9306-6225

Notes

1. While acknowledging the diversity amongst and between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, in this paper, the term ‘Indigenous’ is used to refer to both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

2. The term Higher Degree by Research refers to a supervised postgraduate research program that requires original research.

3. The OLT ceased on the 30 June 2016; the Australian Government Department of Education and Training continued to support the fellowship via the Promotion of Excellence in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education program.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching [grant number FS14-0216].