“I've never had anyone who could show me where to go. I’ve just had to do it.”
Pictured: Candace Dower.
For many Indigenous Australians like Candace, the lack personal and cultural support, the cost of study, and the stress of leaving family and community are big barriers to getting a degree. Many miss out on higher education, and the chance it offers to realise their dreams.
You can empower more young Indigenous Australians to come to university.
Your support will help fund scholarships and accommodation packages that remove the financial barriers to education. You’ll contribute to UTS’s Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research, which supports Indigenous students to thrive in campus life. And you’ll be ensuring that ground-breaking programs such as Galuwa, which raise aspiration in Indigenous high school students, can continue.
Yes, I will help Indigenous students get a life-changing degree
As a regular giver, your generosity will make such a difference for students like Candace.
With the help of the Jumbunna Institute and our generous UTS community, Candace found a pathway to her midwifery degree, life-changing financial assistance and extra tutoring.
Today Candace is the first Indigenous midwife to do a placement at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. She is a role model for other young people in her community and plans to open an antenatal clinic run by Indigenous midwives after she graduates.
That’s inspiring – and possible because Australians like you empowered her to realise her potential.
“Studying at UTS has really impacted my life. It’s showing myself, my family and my community – especially the young kids – that I can do it.”
Yes, I will help more Indigenous students realise their dreams
Thanks to programs provided by the Jumbunna Institute, more Indigenous Australians are starting and finishing degrees at UTS. And we’ve seen our Indigenous graduate employment rate grow to 100 per cent.
But we still have a long way to go. Today, only 1 per cent of Australia’s university students are Indigenous, even though Indigenous Australians make up 3 per cent of our population.
Higher education is one of the best ways to close the gap on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage still experienced in areas such as health, employment and life expectancy.
When you support one Indigenous student through university, you empower them to create powerful, positive change in their own lives. You also help them light a new path for their families, communities and the next generation.
Yes, I will help more Indigenous students to study at university