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CQUniversity working to help, support, and encourage students
by Prof Bronwyn Fredericks 8 December 2015
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s Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Engagement), I am proud of what CQUniversity has achieved over the years for Indigenous students and the community. CQUniversity takes its relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students seriously and this is evidenced by the many sustainable and equitable partnerships with numerous Indigenous stakeholders, organisations and communities that have been developed. Today, CQUniversity is working to help, support and encourage
some 1260 plus Indigenous students reach their goals through the transformative power of education. CQUniversity is currently supporting over 460 undergraduate and postgraduate students and more than 800 vocational students through their studies. While a number of Indigenous students come from communities within Central Queensland many other students are from other communities around such as Weipa, Torres Strait, Darwin, Alice Springs, Geraldton, Adelaide, Hobart, Shepparton, Sydney and Brisbane. In the near 50-years that CQUniversity has existed in its various forms, it has graduated
CQUniversity Chancellor Rennie Fritschy and graduate Allanah Hunt. All images supplied
some 450 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. As an alumnus of CQUniversity, I am proud to be one of these graduates. This week, as CQUniversity starts its end of year graduations, there are Indigenous students graduating in Rockhampton, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. There have never been more Indigenous students crossing the graduation stage. There is also a significant increase in the number of opportunities available to Indigenous students in their
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journeys to graduation through more scholarships, mentoring, international study tours and other programs. I am proud to be part of a university that takes its social responsibilities for the academic and training development of our future Indigenous leaders seriously. The Vice-Chancellor is one of numerous champions of the Office of Indigenous Engagement and the successes of students. Such has been the tremendous impact of the Office of Indigenous Engagement on the lives of Indigenous students all over the country that we want to expand and export this working model so that it influences every part of the university. Put simply, we want to do more than we are doing. The Office of Indigenous Engagement was established several years ago at a time where the university looked a lot different to how it appears today, when we had less than a third of the Indigenous students we have currently – including none of the students that we welcomed when we merged with CQ TAFE last year. The university has changed and grown to the point where it needs Indigenous support embedded into every academic aspect of the institution in order to drive a cultural shift in university-
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wide operations along with growing Indigenous presence across our other operations and sites of operation. Indigenous support needs to become part of the university’s DNA, and that is the driving purpose of CQUniversity’s change proposal for the Office of Indigenous Engagement. It is not happening to save money – there is no cut to funding. It is not happening to shed staff – nobody is losing their job, and staff will continue with the good work they are already doing. The change proposal is not happening to diminish the support provided to Indigenous students – in fact quite the opposite. The
CQU Year 12 Graduates of AIME CQUniversity Rockhampton 2015.
purpose of the change proposal is to make CQUniversity a leader in the delivery of education, training and research for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia. The change proposal at CQUniversity is supported by me, and the vast majority of staff working in the Office of Indigenous Engagement who work at the coalface with students and the diverse range of communities from which our Indigenous students are drawn. The Office of Indigenous Engagement will continue with a responsibility for ongoing Indigenous research, national and
CQUniversity’s Office of Indigenous Engagement will continue to hold events.
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international engagement including the partnerships with BMA and AIME. These are important partnerships that have significantly contributed to successful outcomes for Indigenous students. I am saddened to hear what we are trying to achieve described as “assimilation”, because it is not. In fact, describing the process as “assimilation” disregards the real assimilation that Indigenous people have historically experienced. The changes are about bringing the rest of the university on-board with what has been a transformational model, not to water down our focus or philosophy. The other reality is that other areas of the university are wanting to ‘step up’ and take up their responsibilities within regards to supporting Indigenous students, embedding Indigenous knowledges and processes and to incorporating Indigenous presence within and across our multiple sites of delivery across Australia. An example of progression is the newly developed Cairns campus, which is our first bilingual campus, with substantial
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artwork and a growing number of locally recruited Indigenous staff across numerous functions of the campus. I want to see this across many of our campuses and study hubs. Additionally, the change proposal provides more opportunities for staff from the OIE to further advance their skills in order to ensure effective and efficient quality of educational service delivery. I am disappointed to hear some say there has not been enough consultation on this change proposal at CQUniversity, because that is not the case. There has been more community consultation undertaken with this particular change proposal than with any other change proposals at CQUniversity that anyone can recall. The reality is that the University has undertaken consultation in good faith where it is not essentially required to undertake community consultation for a process that is primarily not affecting the community as such. The change
Tertiary Entry Graduates at CQUniversity.
proposal is a part of everyday core business of a University. The Vice-Chancellor has been involved in a number of meetings with Indigenous leaders, as have I and other University representatives, and the community’s view has been taken into consideration during the decision making process. While there may be a few Rockhampton community members that may be disappointed with the change proposal, this is not reflective of the community overall. There will always be a place for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at CQUniversity. I reiterate that I am proud of CQUniversity’s record of welcoming and supporting Indigenous students to its campuses at a rate more than three times that of the national average for a university. We are stepping up our commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples for now and the future.
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