Indigenous Students in the Tertiary Education Sector

Overview & Synopsis

Important recent objectives of indigenous education policy in Australia have been aimed at redressing indigenous economic and social disadvantage through increasing student retention, progression and completion rates in both compulsory and post-compulsory education. The two sectors of the tertiary education system, vocational education and training (VET) and higher education (HE), have usually been acknowledged as separate but crucial elements in Indigenous capacity building. The vocational education sector, in particular, has had an important role in equipping Indigenous people with the vocationally orientated skills required to participate in paid employment, the mainstream economy and the labour market (Dockery & Milson, 2007).