Dr Michael Tawa
Senior Lecturer, Faculty of the Built Environment, University of NSW

Educational Access and Equity for Indigenous Students:
The Built Environment Preparation Program, UNSW

Abstract
Raising the participation and success rate of Indigenous people in tertiary study is a key strategy for increasing access and equity in higher education - as well as broader objectives of reconciliation. The 1988 Aboriginal Education Policy Task Force Guidelines states that a greater range of vocational options must be offered to indigenous students to improve access and equity in higher education.

As a practical response to this need, the Faculty of the Built Environment, in collaboration with the Aboriginal Educational Program UNSW, is establishing a Built Environment Preparation Program for Indigenous Students - the first of its kind in Australia. The Program is intended to prepare Indigenous students for successful study in various built environment disciplines, and ultimately to be articulated across a number of participating institutions across a national network.

This paper will give an overview of the Program, and its educational objectives, in terms of the conference themes of reconciliation, access and equity, and institutional diversity.

Bionote
Dr Michael Tawa is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of the Built Environment, UNSW. He is working on several collaborative research and design projects with the Ngaanyatjarra communities of Western Australia, and developing a Built Environment Professional Program to increase access to built environment education for Indigenous students.

Presentation Type
30 min Paper