Every year in Australian, there are 45,000 24-year olds are not fully employed, nor in education or training, and this group is unlikely to be in the labour force for the majority of their working lives. This costs the economy $19 billion over a cohort’s lifetime.
Universities are, as I have said many times, public purpose institutions. It is incumbent upon us to see this enormous waste of talent and potential as our problem. We have a direct obligation to address it.
UTS’s answer is the U@Uni Academy. Piloted this year, it is unique in addressing inequality in tertiary education by pitching to students who are not on track for university. The program increases intake of low SES students by opening the door to 300 young people each year to study at UTS, following an intensive two-year program that eschews traditional, limited measures of success in favour of more 21st century ways of assessing potential.
The U@Uni Academy was designed with input and support from varied stakeholders, including the NSW Department of Education, teachers, students, parents and UTS academic and professional staff.
Starting by selecting a cohort of students at the end of Year 10, the U@Uni Academy looks beyond the ATAR in assessing their potential to study at UTS. Students are required to complete the HSC, but if they demonstrate their potential through our program they are guaranteed an offer into one of our undergraduate courses.
UTS will be able to assess students’ progress and achievement against the national curriculum’s general capabilities and the 21st century skills that help form part of UTS’s graduate attributes – creativity, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, leadership, etc… the skills that 21st century employers are telling us they need.
Three hundred Year 11 students have just spent two weeks experiencing hands-on learning at UTS completing projects in film, fashion, science, architecture, business and health. Feedback from students, parents and teachers has been incredibly positive. We’ve had a swell of interest from other universities and schools after the initiative was featured on Nine News.
The UTS approach to broadening outreach to a more diverse cohort of students is set to revolutionise the way all Australian universities approach social justice in education – and we couldn’t be prouder.