Quite traumatic, isn't it :)
Loudmouth,
Big Nana expressed my sentiments perfectly. I challenge your invitation to find a single inacuracy by asking you to tell me what percentage of these "inndigenous" are actually indigenous not simply white decesndents claiming to be indigenous. If such people are included in your term of indigenous then would it not be more accurate to state students of "indigenous descent" ?
I am surrounded by such people where I live so I do know what I am talking about. They're fine until do-gooders with a finger in that pie put them on pedestals they never needed to mount.

Thanks, Big nanna and Individual,

I'm simply citing the figures. There is no means of gauging, as you would require, the degree of Indigenous ancestry of the students and graduates who are counted. If you wish, I can change the title of the database to the "Indigenous and people of, or claiming to have, Indigenous descent, higher education database 2013".

In another paper, I hope to focus on precisely what you are highlighting, on the reasons for the growth in numbers, in the growth of two populations, one oriented to work and the other condemned to lifelong welfare, and the implications for that 'Gap' in the near future. Just give me a few days :)

But the facts remain, however the situation may be defined: there are, year after year, record commencements at universities by students of Indigenous descent, record gradation numbers, and a total of around thirty six thousand people of Indigenous descent who have graduated from universities.

And yes, that women of Indigenous descent are commencing university study at a better rate than non-Indigenous Australian men: 2 % of all Australian women commencing studies in 2013 were of Indigenous descent, as against a population of about 2.4 % of that of non-Indigenous women - five-sixths; while non-Indigenous Australian men are commencing (42%: 58%) at less than three-quarters of the rate of women.

I wonder if, apart from the students and graduates themselves, if anybody in Australia finds this information positive or heartening. The elites don't, they would prefer that only tiny numbers were coming through so that they could preserve their privileged positions as part of the Mighty Few. But 36,000 are not Few. University education has been for some time, a mass enterprise, for people of Indigenous descent.

They didn't cause the 'Gap' and it is not up to them to slow down or stop, in order for the 'Gap' not to get wider. As people of Indigenous descent have usually done, they are making their own decisions about their own futures, free of elite 'control' or policy dictates. And good on them.

Cheers,

Joe

Joe, of course I am heartened by the figures, but my point is, many years ago many of these people would not have even identified as indigenous, but they were graduating from uni anyways. The figures I would like to see is those that cover rural and remote schools only. This is where the biggest failure lies. Many parents in these areas simply do not grasp the essential nature of education, or if they do, can't be bothered fighting with the child to make them go to school. These same parents then complain loudly and long about white people running their communities.
I see that the government is going to expand and improve the penalty system for failure to send kids to school. This may well be the only workable system ATM, because, as in every other area, money talks.
In the NT, English is a second language for many, but in the Kimberley, language has almost died out, and English is the first language in the communities. There is no excuse for kids not succeeding in these schools. They are certainly smart enough, and incredibly resilient and inventive. Given the chance these kids could do wonders with their lives. So now we have to force the parents to give these kids that chance.

many years ago many of these people would not have even identified as indigenous,
Big Nana,
This remark is really uncanny in my experience. I recall so-called mixed race people who 30 years ago would have thumped you if you referred to them as indigenous. Many years later they would have thumped you if you referred to them as white. Of course now their descendents are as pale as I but they're indigenous despite the influence of outside genes.
I recall not that long ago when a so-called indigenous whose great-grandmother was an indigenous was awarded with a very high award for indigenous achievement. If the average person were to be asked as to what heritage that person is I guarantee that indigenous would come last.
I applaud anyone who achieves by merit but I strongly object to racial heritage being classified as merit. We have too many people awarded this way & unfortunately it goes to their heads & the result of that is abysmal failure & disappointment when they are inducted into the public service.
This hypocitical fawning is to the detriment of our society & even more so the wrongly applauded individuals.

Big Nanna and Individual,

I mostly agree with both of you but I don't think it's all that relevant: people of Indigenous descent have to do something with their lives, like anybody else, and they are deciding to go on to university. If other people want to sit back and ait for cargo, that's their choice too. If anybody wants to get off their backside and give university a go, then they have my full support.

I don't know how you would identify whether, or to what extent, graduates of Indigenous descent came from this area or that, apart from the rather crude measure of which university had so-many graduates, and which one had so-many commencements etc. I'll give that a go.

There have been stark differences in institutional performance and state-level success, depending primarily on the enthusiasm with which universities' senior management encourages and funds Indigenous support programs to publicise, promote, recruit and prepare new students, and protects those federally-provided funds from the Indigenous Studies area.

Other factors may include the proportion of special-entry students, external and on-line students, and those enrolled in Indigenous-focussed awards (courses), all of which, especially if coupled with poor support services, are risk factors: so, the odd university which leans towards ALL of these factors tends to have horrific drop-out rates, high commencement compared to low continuation rates, and relatively poor graduation rates. As students have turned away from external and Indigenous-focussed awards, and as far more Indigenous students enrol after completing Year 12, their clear preference is for internal, mainstream and degree-level enrolment.

for example, Commencements by Institution [Table 8 of Database]:

Some universities have experienced a doubling of Indigenous commencements since 2006, while commencements have actually declined at others. Universities in New South Wales as a whole, for instance, increased their commencement numbers by 110 %. Commencements at the University of NSW more than tripled between 2006 and 2013. Victoria and Queensland both experienced an improvement in commencements of around 90 % since 2006.

[More to come]

[continued] Continuations by Institution [Table 10]:

This key variable, continuation numbers, rose by 10.3 % in the year to 2013. But continuation numbers in NSW as a whole rose more than 15 % in the one year and continuations rose by nearly two-thirds at Charles Darwin.

Both Flinders and the University of Adelaide experienced significant improvements in their continuation numbers, of 20 % and 18.5 % respectively. Neither has a significant external, or Indigenous-focussed, suite of programs. On the other hand, numbers rose only 8 % in Western Australia and 9 % in South Australia as a whole.

Continuation numbers actually declined at the Universities of SA and Tasmania, and at the Australian Catholic University, and for Victoria as a whole by 4.5 %, including a massive drop of 15 % in continuation numbers at Victoria University.

Continuations rose nationally by 50 % between 2006 and 2013, a trend-line of 5.2 % increase per year. But as with commencements, institutional performace was extremely variable. At Charles Sturt, continuation numbers rose a phenomenal 153 %. At the University of NSW, and at the University of Western Sydney, continuation numbers rose by more than 60 %. The University of Newcastle did even better, with almost a doubling of continuing numbers, 94 %. Something is going right in NSW.

Not entirely: continuations at the University of Technology, Sydney, declined by nearly 18 % over those years. There is a possibility that some universities have relatively large intakes of new Indigenous students, but poor preparation and orientation programs or none at all, and subsequently high drop-out and poor continuation rates.

[Even more to come]