2020 Indigenous Education Statement

3.1 Rise and Fall of Completions

3.1.1 Outcomes

In 2020, 83 Indigenous students completed 84 awards across 43 separate course offerings at UNE, ranging from Diploma level through to PhD qualifications (Table 14). The percentage of Indigenous students that successfully completed their courses in 2020 represented 2.12% of the total number of completions at UNE in 2020.

Table 18: Course Completions by Indigenous students at UNE 2016-2020.

3.1.2 Strategies connecting graduates with employment (both within and outside the institution)

Across the University, a number of services and supported opportunities are available to Indigenous students to enable them to make workforce connections and improve their employment prospects upon graduation. These include:

Services

• The UNE Employability and Careers Team focuses on (a) embedding employability across the teaching curriculum and (b) on achieving positive graduate outcomes. The team provides services to both on - and off-campus students and mirrors all on-campus services with digital learning platforms for UNE’s online students including: one-on-one consultations, online self-help learning resources, work integrated learning; workshops, and employer seminars.  The team also facilitates the Unit of Study titled Work300: Integrated Learning – Professional Skills Development. This unit is an elective available across a range of courses at UNE. This unit of study enables students to apply their academic knowledge in a workplace context, and to reflect and report on the experience, thus increasing their level of career readiness. The unit requires (a) 120 hours of fully supervised professional activity, project work or directed investigation in a host workplace; (b) and not more than 30 hours of additional study and assignment preparation including the Online Preparation Moodle unit.

Opportunities

• All graduates from the Joint Medical Program are employed by the State Health Departments to commence internship – as required to gain full registration.
• The School of Health is a member of the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Nurses and Midwives (CATSINaM) which is the peak body that represents Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nurses and midwives across Australia. The aim of this body is to increase the recruitment and retention of Aboriginal peoples into nursing and midwifery roles across Australia.
• The School of Health also supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nursing students gain continuing employment via support/promotion of Cadetships available with NSW Health.
• Programs in the School of Education, the School of Health and the School of Rural Medicine require student placement in work/clinical settings for course completions. Indigenous students who participate in placements are supported by the Oorala Aboriginal Centre to apply for ‘Away from Base’ funding through the Commonwealth ABSTUDY scheme to assist students meet the accommodation costs of these placements.
• For a number of years, UNE has supported students to achieve Internships via the Career Trackers Indigenous Internship Program. In 2020, three students undertook Summer Internships with external recruiters including the Greater Sydney Commission, South Gippsland Water and Arrpwere.
• Indigenous students from UNE have participated in the Aurora Education Foundation Internship program for more than 10 years. In 2020, one UNE Student secured an Aurora Foundation Winter Internship and was hosted by the Aboriginal Legal Service Newcastle (ALS).
• The Senior Human Resources Consultant, Aboriginal Employment at UNE continues to promote the Aboriginal Casual Employment Register to UNE recruiters as well as to Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander students and graduates

3.1.3 Strategies to monitor student outcomes after graduation

UNE participates in the Quality Indicators for Teaching and Learning (QILT) suite of government-funded student and graduate surveys. The latest (2020) Graduate Outcomes Survey (GOS) data indicates that UNE Indigenous graduates reported the following (on an adjusted 5-point Likert-type scale):

• GADAPTn Average: The course provided the adaptive skills (broad general knowledge, ability to develop innovative ideas, ability to identify new opportunities, ability to adapt knowledge in different contexts, ability to apply skills in different contexts, capacity to work independently) required for the job: Indigenous: 3.68; UNE average (Indigenous and Non-Indigenous): 4.04
• GFOUNDn Average: The course provided the foundation skills (oral communication skills, written communication skills, numeracy skills, ability to develop relevant knowledge, ability to develop relevant skills, ability to solve problems, ability to integrate knowledge, ability to think independently about problems) required for the job: Indigenous: 3.83; UNE average (Indigenous and Non-Indigenous): 4.03
• GCOLLABm Average: he course provided the collaboration skills (working well in a team, getting on well with others in the workplace, working collaboratively with colleagues to complete tasks, understanding of different points of view, ability to interact with co-workers from different or multicultural backgrounds) required for the job: Indigenous: 3.58; UNE average (Indigenous and Non-Indigenous): 3.76
• QUALIMPn Average: The course Qualification was Important in Securing a Job: Indigenous: 3.03; UNE average (Indigenous and Non-Indigenous): 3.06
• CRSPREPn Average: Course preparation for employment: Indigenous: 3.43; UNE average (Indigenous and Non-Indigenous): 3.29

The reported scores of Indigenous graduates for four of the five GOS Indicators noted above are marginally lower than that for the combined Indigenous and Non-Indigenous scores (See: Table 15 below).

Table 15: UNE 2020 Graduate Survey (GOS) Responses to Key Grouped Questions (Student Response to QILT Graduate Outcome Surveys Questions⁾

^*As scored on an adjusted 5-point Likert-type scale.  SOURCE: Power BI Application - AQ Course Level Surveys Dashboard – prepared and updated by UNE Business Intelligence Services 14/4/2021.

Indigenous graduates also reported the following:

• Median Salary (at time of survey): Indigenous: $65,866; UNE average (Indigenous and Non-Indigenous): $67,000
• Proportion of graduate in full-time employment:  Indigenous: 56.7%; UNE average (Indigenous and Non-Indigenous): 58.3%
• Proportion of jobs where course was a formal requirement for employment: Indigenous: 43.7%; UNE average (Indigenous and Non-Indigenous): 41.5%

Again, the results for Indigenous UNE graduates in 2020 are marginally lower than for our combined Indigenous and Non-Indigenous graduates.