Section 1: Achievement of national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy (AEP) Goals in 2016 and plans for future years

Please provide evidence of:

  • strategies you have implemented which seek to achieve the AEP goals and your assessment of whether these strategies are working;
  • constraints on your ability to achieve the AEP goals; and
  • plans for future improvement of existing strategies or implementation of new strategies to meet each of the AEP goals relevant to higher education.

The AEP goals (paraphrased) relating to higher education are to:

  1. Establish effective arrangements for the participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in educational decision-making.
  2. Increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples employed, as academic and non-academic staff in higher education institutions.
  3. Ensure equitable access of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to higher education.
  4. Achieve the participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in higher education, at rates commensurate with those of all other Australians.
  5. Enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to attain the same graduation rates from award courses in higher education as for other Australians.
  6. To provide all Australian students with an understanding of and respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditional and contemporary cultures.