This is not necessarily a good thing Joe. Given that the reputation of the university industry is now on a par with that of the banking and insurance industry, anyone not wanting to join the professions such as medicine and engineering, would be better served taking up options other than universities.

I don't know, of course, but I suspect that these aboriginal students would be politically inclined, given that their entire existence has been politicised, and we really don't need more ratbag activists being spat out of a system that even academics working in it believe needs a good shakeup and loss of public funding because of it's politicisation and increasing intolerance of free speech.

Joe, Thank you for the link. It's excellent data, and I noticed that the biggest increase in Indigenous enrolments was in Information Technology. It's strange how some can continue to assert that nothing has changed. I remember when the first Aboriginal man graduated with a full degree, back in the 1960s. It was front page news.

ttbn, that is the typical bigoted racism that has been evident for years. Don't educate the darkies, next thing you know they will want equality with their betters, they will want what the white mans got. Besides they are too dumb to be educated, and they are only fit for the most menial of employment.

//Given that the reputation of the university industry is now on a par with that of the banking and insurance industry,// Only with you and other rednecks.

//I don't know, of course, but I suspect that these aboriginal students would be politically inclined// That's right you don't know, and you wouldn't know, you are clueless.

Whenever there is talk of improvement for Indigenous people there is always some racists redneck who thinks its a bad idea.

Paul,

Stop drinking! There is nothing “racist” about my post. I didn't say “Don't educate the darkies”. It's all in you addled mind.

You are a nasty, out-of-control wreck, who probably hates himslelf as much as he hates everybody else. I now see that it was an insult to even Foxy that I linked you to her.

I think the real test for progress is real jobs other than those created by Government funding. Real jobs should decrease domestic violence, drug taking and lawlessness.

Ttbn,

I'm not so sure that the elites have as much control over Indigenous students. Anecdotally, while every university may have spaces for Indigenous students, I get the idea that not many students use them, except socially between themselves, without much involvement from Indigenous staff. I'm sure there are exceptions, but most staff - even those explicitly employed to provide support - move away as quickly as they can into 'genuine' academia, to work on their careers, grab the scholarships available and aim for a professorship.

Indigenous students these days are more likely to have graduate parents, and to be intent on getting through their studies and into employment. There's one of the problems: a major source of employment is in areas controlled by the Indigenous Industry. Employment agencies defer to 'consultants' who pick and choose who gets into employment at all.

Perhaps, as you indicate, many if not most Indigenous graduates find themselves forced into taking such jobs when they originally just wanted a mainstream job. If they have powerful relations, they might grab at an Industry-chosen no-work position, and join the elite at its lower levels. If their study area is not amenable to that, say Surveying or Accounting or Conservation Management, they they have a hard time finding work.

One striking feature of Indigenous academic 'research' focus is how few, if any, go on to do research into Indigenous participation at universities (surely their bread and butter): I know of such academics focussing on housing, gambling, aromatherapy, on proving that Dreaming stories are literally true, or that people lived in such-and-such a place - anything but higher education issues.

So I suspect that most students are going it alone, with mutual support but little from academics. Still, the growth in numbers won't slow down soon: like anybody else, Indigenous students (and their parents) want to get somewhere and higher ed is their way to do it. Working-class jobs are out, not many go into trades, so uni is the major pathway these days.

How their aims are corrupted by the Industry is another sorry story.

Joe