2015 Indigenous Education Statement

2. Increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff employed as academic and non-academic staff in higher education institutions.

Your response to this goal needs to address but is not limited to the following points:

• An outline of your current Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment Strategy including details on its current status, who has responsibility for its implementation, how is progress measured, how and when is progress reviewed or evaluated.
• Information on your strategies for increasing numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff employed at your University. (Please provide a link to your Employment statement).
• The number of Indigenous-specific positions at your University, detailed by occupation and level.
• The current number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff at your University and their roles across the University (including numbers in academic and non-academic roles, and by level).

An outline of UNE’s current Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment Strategy including details on its current status, who has responsibility for its implementation, how is progress measured, how and when is progress reviewed or evaluated

UNE identifies attracting and retaining Indigenous staff as a major priority in its Mission-based Compact and this is echoed in the University of New England Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment Strategy 2013–2018.

The UNE Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment Strategy 2013–2018 was developed to provide a platform for increasing employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples within UNE with a strong focus on recruitment, employment retention and career development for current and future staff of UNE. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment Strategy 2013–2018 also guides the development of strategies that target appropriate workplace culture and practices, employment opportunities, career development plans and academic career paths, for both staff and students. The Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor chair the ATSI Employment Strategy Governance Committee that provides advice to the Vice-Chancellor in the oversight of the implementation of the strategy.

The strategy was authored by the Aboriginal Employment Officer in consultation with Human Resource Services, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, local community representatives, the Director of Oorala Aboriginal Centre and UNE senior staff.

The Employment Strategy identifies objectives and initiatives aimed at increasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment across all UNE Schools and Directorates through:

• Community partnerships – strengthening relationships between the community and UNE.
• Career development – building meaningful career paths for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff.
• Becoming a good employer – building understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and appropriate workforce management practices.
• Attracting and retaining – increasing meaningful employment options for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Key objectives are:

Whilst overall responsibility for the strategy’s implementation rests with the Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor the University expectation is that all managers and staff will support its implementation. A Governance Committee, chaired by the Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, oversees the implementation of the Strategy and comprises UNE representatives from Schools, Directorates, unions, and other members are co-opted as required. Local Aboriginal Elders and community representatives from local organisations are engaged through the Armidale Aboriginal Interagency Committee in a consultative capacity to support the governance committee’s implementation of the Strategy.

The Committee receives quarterly reports on the Strategy’s progress through its UNE representatives and evaluation of the Strategy by HR Services is based on progress of each activity, with feedback and data also collated for annual reporting.

The University continues to implement the strategies outlined in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 2013–2018 strategy. During the last twelve months there have been fluctuations in employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with retention presenting as an issue.

The Employment Strategy contains aspirational targets to increase employees in continuing positions. In 2016 the University is devolving these targets to Schools and Directorates to ensure shared accountability.

Strategies for increasing numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff employed at UNE (UNE’s ATSI Employment Strategy)

During 2014–2015 the Employment Strategy was refocused to concentrate on the attraction and retention of Aboriginal people into both Professional and Academic roles through “growing our own”.

The following actions have been taken to increase the employment of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples in accordance with the Employment Strategy:

• The School of Arts in collaboration with Research Services have established and awarded four PhD Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander scholarships. The scholarship holders have the opportunity to develop academic careers within the University. Another successful example is the creation of an additional academic role (Pre-Doctoral Fellow in Law) in the UNE School of Law to be filled in June 2015.
• The BCSS School engaged a local Indigenous Psychologist to provide training for psychology students and to work closely with the Deputy Head of School and Director of the Psychology Clinical Program. A criminology research group examining Indigenous Adult Education in Bourke NSW engaged an Indigenous research assistant.
• The School of Arts employed a casual ATSI Research Assistant to assist with the research project “Nourishing Culture and Developing Social Capital in a Community Garden. This project is led by Dr Katherine Wright, postdoctoral research fellow.
• A pilot Cultural Immersion program was conducted in September 2015 and six programs have been offered to date [34 staff completed this course in 2015]. The program has been attended by Senior Executives and Senior Managers of the University. We will continue to offer this program to staff and supervisors to improve cultural competency in engaging with students and staff.
• An Aboriginal lecturer in the School of Rural Medicine and an Aboriginal Support Officer were appointed to support the School’s ATSI students and to develop and run the Kruki Summer School. These short-term contract appointments were funded by a Higher Education Participation and Partnership (HEPP) grant from the Australian Government Department of Education and Training. Pending continuation of funding, the School of Rural Medicine will continue to employ Ms Shipley in 2016 to assist with delivering the Indigenous Health curriculum of the Joint Medical Program (JMP) (a joint program with the University of Newcastle) and to increase engagement with Indigenous students enrolled in the JMP at UNE.
• The ATSI Employment Strategy is progressing well in the School of Law, with staff numbers ahead of projected targets. An additional academic role (Pre-Doctoral Fellow in Law) was filled in May 2015.
• Establishment of a ‘buddying’ program for newly appointed Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander employees to assist with the on-boarding process has commenced. Culturally appropriate buddies are sourced from existing UNE staff.
• A career development program has been developed and offered to existing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff. In response to feedback the direction of this initiative has now shifted to encouraging participation in leadership and development programs offered to all UNE staff and supervisors.
• Facilitating secondments for current Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff to broaden their view of career opportunities within the University whilst enhancing and promoting their skills.
• Engagement with local employment providers has commenced to enlist their support in pre-employment initiatives.

The strategy is on the UNE webpage, at a link accessible to UNE and the public via ‘Information for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community’ at: http://www.une.edu.au/staff-current/working/equity/atsi-emplyment/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-employment-strategy

The number of Indigenous-specific positions at UNE, detailed by occupation and level

Table 1b: Indigenous-specific fixed-term positions

Table 2: Indigenous-specific Casual positions

Compared to 2014 there was an increase of 9 in the number of Indigenous-specific positions at UNE in 2015.

The current number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff at UNE and their roles across the University (including numbers in academic and non-academic roles, and by level)

Data provided by UNE Human Resources.

The above data indicates an increase of 14 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff employed at UNE, compared to 2014.

In addition to the above staff, 6 student casuals were employed by Oorala (Student Casual, HEO Student Level 1).