Smashing the gap: Indigenous Australians accessing and transitioning to university the AIME way

Indigenous Australians are an educationally disadvantaged group and are currently underrepresented in the university sector: whilst they comprise approximately 3% of the Australian population (ABS 2013), they account for only... [ view full abstract ]

Indigenous Australians are an educationally disadvantaged group and are currently underrepresented in the university sector: whilst they comprise approximately 3% of the Australian population (ABS 2013), they account for only 1.1% of all Australian university enrolments (Commonwealth of Australia 2014). The Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) is remediating this inequity. AIME is a not-for-profit organisation that partners with universities across Australia to deliver an educational mentoring program for Indigenous high school students. AIME supports students to high school completion and transition to higher and further education or employment. In 2014, 369 AIME Year 12 students satisfied the requirements of Year 12 attainment in their relevant state or territory. As of April 2015, nearly a third of this cohort successfully transitioned to university, with an additional 83 students commencing further education and training, and 72 commencing employment. The success of AIME has been the focus of research that spans 5 years (O’Shea et al. 2014; Harwood et al. 2013, Bodkin-Andrews et al. 2013) which seeks to understand how this success is achieved (Harwood et al. 2015; O’Shea et al. 2015). This presentation will highlight the strategies that AIME uses in its programs and articulate the ways in which this program has produced significant educational and employment outcomes for participants. The presentation will draw upon extensive data including: quantitative pre and post program surveys of 1200 students, ethnographic observations of over 150 AIME sessions, and semi-structued interviews with 86 high school students and 64 university student mentors. The presentation will provide potentially transferrable ideas and knowledges for use by university equity practitioners and will offer strategies for engaging AIME’s assistance in connecting Indigenous school leavers to your institution.