Australian universities are failing to attract Pasifika students to study on their campuses. It’s a missed opportunity when almost 40 per cent of the Australian population with Pacific Islander ancestry are aged 19 years and under, and 15,000 Pasifika people aged 15-24. Pacific Islander communities are also growing at a rate higher than the Australian general population.
UTS is seeking to address this by creating a community of UTS Pasifika university students, alumni, Pasifika professionals and Industry experts who are engaged, connected, and committed to seeing successful educational outcomes for Pasifika young people in Australia.
‘Pasifika young people live in culturally complex and socially diverse environments and often face complex challenges when navigating unfamiliar school and post-school environments,’ says Amanda Moors-Mailei, Program Manager, Educational Access Schemes & Pathways, UTS Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion.
UTS launched Pasifika targeted initiatives in 2019, with three program components designed and developed out of a recognised need from community for increase targeted culturally responsive programs for Pasifika students in the Mt Druitt area.
1. High school mentoring
The Pasifika Mentoring Program supports Pasifika and academic identity, enhancing students’ cultural capital and encouraging their confidence and personal agency to be active decision-makers in their post-school futures.
UTS mentors, who are students with Pacific Island heritage, offer support to high school students to help them succeed in school and engage in active decision-making about their future. The mentoring sessions (initially face-to-face, currently being delivered weekly via Zoom due to NSW lockdowns) utilise Pasifika concepts of Voyaging and Navigation as metaphors for students to build their ancestral intelligence, realise their potential, and plan for their future journeys.
UTS mentors are trained in facilitation and mentoring skills overlayed by Pasifika models for youth mentoring and wellbeing, that create strong and meaningful mentoring relationships.
Officially launched in December 2019 in three Western Sydney Schools - Plumpton High School, St Clair High School and Chifley College, Shalvey Campus – the program targeted schools with large Pasifika student populations.
2. Career & Industry Network
The network is building a community of UTS Pasifika scholars, support their sense of belonging, success, and graduate attributes, with a focus on Pasifika events. Participants enhance their professional and career development through establishing connections and networking opportunities with Pasifika industry experts and professionals already making waves in their respective fields.
‘The inclusion of Pasifika professionals and experts is a how we ‘continue the circle’ for our Pasifika youth to understand what their aspirations and dreams can become by meeting and networking with carefully matched Pasifika Industry experts,’ says Moors-Mailei.
The next phase of this component will involve targeted internships and placement opportunities for university graduates.
The event sparked a realisation that I really love helping our high school and uni students and being part of this event has inspired me to think of more ways to engage and help our Pasifika students. All the other professionals, mentors, students, teachers, and families present today blew me away.
Matautia Phineas Hartson, Solicitor.
3. Pasifika Experience Day
An annual event providing a culturally responsive university experience for Pasifika high school students and their families.
Students connect with UTS Pasifika students, along with industry professionals and experts to provide additional support, encouragement and – most importantly – representation for Pacific young people in Australia.
A snapshot of the first Pasifika Experience Day held in this year:
The 2021 event welcomed 156 Pasifika from Years 10—12 – plus one brave Year 7 student – from 24 schools across Sydney. They participated in faculty workshops, delivered by 16 UTS Academics, 14 Pasifika Career & Industry Professionals and 11 UTS Pasifika student mentors.
For the schools part of the Pasifika Mentoring Program the event was the culmination of two terms of mentoring sessions, during which participants worked on enhancing their ancestral intelligence to map their strengths, interests and goals, the on-campus event was the opportunity to see how their goals can be realised in a university setting.
To be able to see themselves represented in professional fields – in this case, Forensic Scientist, Civil Engineers, Lawyers, IT Specialists, Music Label Executive and Health Practitioners – is extremely valuable. As the saying goes ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’.
It’s important for Pasifika students to see, hear, react and be engaged emotionally and intellectually by peers and pioneers in a welcoming open environment such as The UTS Pasifika Experience Day. It deeply motivates them, gives them the confidence and someone to emulate, and understand how they might overcome obstacles.
If that environment has people who looks like them or shares a similar background, they’re more likely to be able to identify with them and the academic environment imagining themselves in that position. It becomes seriously achievable and highly possible!
Neville Anitelea, Marketing executive and Director, Anitelea Consulting.
Creating a more inclusive future
Our overarching goal is to encourage and support Pasifika students' educational aspirations in a way that both understands their diverse cultural backgrounds and disrupts deficit narratives they encounter about themselves or their Pacific identities.
‘Throughout all three components of the program we focus on young peoples’ strengths and resilience, their learning journey, developing their identity, connections, belonging, and strive toward Pasifika excellence”, said Moors-Mailei.
Targeted, culturally responsive programs are proven to have significant impact in improving outcomes for culturally and linguistically diverse students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
‘As with many migrant communities, Pasifika youth are navigating multiple identities, balancing the values and realities of Western society with the traditional values and practices of their parents and elders.’
As a public purpose institution with a mission to benefit society, UTS has an ongoing commitment to overcoming the ongoing inequity in Australian education. While equity issues affecting students are still starkly apparent in the current climate, we are constantly evolving new programs, pathways and methods of outreach that are responsive to communities, to make higher education a more inclusive, diverse and richer environment for everyone.