$9.25M TO SUPPORT MORE UNI GRADUATES FROM DISADVANTAGED BACKGROUNDS

Media Release.

07 Aug 2013 

The Rudd Labor Government is giving more students from disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to get a university education with over $9.25 million in funding for a project to increase participation jointly run by the University of Adelaide, the University of South Australia and Flinders University.

Announcing the grant today at the University of Adelaide, Higher Education Minister Senator Kim Carr, said disadvantaged young Australians from Adelaide and regional South Australia will be encouraged to aim for a university degree under the project.

"The 'Journey to Higher Education' project creates a continuous path for students through primary and secondary school that ends at universities like this, as well as the University of South Australia and Flinders University," Senator Carr said.

"Federal Labor is committed to achieving our target of seeing 20 per cent of undergraduate students coming from a low SES background by 2020.

"Supporting disadvantaged Australians into higher education is an investment in the long term future of our nation."

The project is funded under the latest round of the Rudd Labor Government's Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program (HEPPP).

Minister for Early Childhood, Childcare and Youth, and Member for Adelaide, Kate Ellis, said that Federal Labor's support to get more disadvantaged young people a university degree would deliver major long-term benefits for local families and communities.

"We are passionate about helping low SES status and other disadvantaged people access higher education," Minister Ellis said.

"We know that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in particular are significantly underrepresented at university and while we have seen recent improvements in the number of university commencements there is still much more work to be done," Senator Carr said.

The successful projects use a variety of measures to target students from disadvantaged Indigenous backgrounds including workshops, mentoring, working with prisons, teacher support, intensive tuition (for example in maths and science) and work experience.

Boosting the number of Indigenous students in universities, in particular, is a key component of the Government's ambition to close the gap.

Funding for this project is already included in the budget.

The list of successful projects is attached and available online at: http://www.innovation.gov.au/HigherEducation/Equity/HigherEducationParticipationAndPartnershipsProgram/Pages/default.aspx