A 21st century approach to student equity

Congratulations to Sonal Singh, Sarah Ellis and Emlyn Dodd from the Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion on the publication of their paper ‘Making the invisible, visible: A 21st century approach to tertiary preparation, attainment and access for student equity’ in the International Journal of Inclusive Education (IJIE).

'We’re thrilled to have this research in a high-profile publication like IJIE. We see it as an important contribution to the debate around higher education admission, providing a clear and tangible example to the sector regarding one potential solution,' said Emlyn Dodd.

The article explores new ways to increase equity and diversity in higher education. It’s particularly timely in the face of COVID-19, changes to government funding, and reforms that have the potential to disproportionately disadvantage students from a low socioeconomic (LSES) background.

'The current climate has highlighted a clear need for widening participation to readdress endemic patterns of inequitable access and participation rates of educationally-disadvantaged cohorts,' said Sonal Singh.

Using the UTS U@Uni Academy as a case study, it demonstrates how the education sector can be more innovative in their approach to admissions and measuring success.

'We are very excited to share findings from the U@Uni Academy which is a small step towards addressing these inequities,' Sonal said.

With debate currently surrounding the future of the Australian higher education sector, the paper reimagines a student’s potential through their skills and capability, rather than their social, socioeconomic or geographic location.

'Our move towards a rich and contextualised representation of a student’s skills can help to break down the rigid education barriers that limit tertiary access and perpetuate structural inequality for underrepresented cohorts,' said Sarah Ellis.

You can read the full paper here: https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2020.1831629