First Nations students’ transitions into university are frequently treated as linear and uniform, despite diversity across language groups, communities and life trajectories. This study examines how a dedicated First Nations student centre in a metropolitan Australian university supports students across the “university lifespan”: imagining university, application and enrolment, first year and ongoing study. The paper draws on literature, administrative completion data, and interviews with 16 First Nations students and 8 staff. Thematic analysis identified three interlocking mechanisms through which the Centre strengthened success: pathway translation, place-based belonging, and wraparound scaffolding across academic, housing/financial and wellbeing domains, especially during the first weeks of semester. Students described the Centre as their primary access point to university systems, enabling programs, tutoring, accommodation supports and health services. Findings indicate that improving First Nations participation and completion requires not only expanded entry pathways but sustained investment in culturally safe infrastructures that hold students through transition pressure points and support diverse, non-linear journeys.
Indigenous Australian Elders are key cultural authorities in higher education, with their presence expanding through Elders in Residence programs over the past two decades. While government reports, sector-wide reviews and institutional strategies recognise the value of Elders in Residence roles, research on the scope, efficacy and integration of such roles into institutional governance remains limited. Reporting on findings from an Australian Research Council-funded study, this paper centres the voices of six Elders in Residence through in‑depth qualitative interviews and examines their positioning within complex, nuanced ecosystems of university governance, Indigenous leadership and community engagement. Drawing on Moodie’s (2018) decolonising race theory, we analyse Elders’ contributions across fragmented webs of institutional power and accountability. Conceptually, the paper introduces the Dhurrun model to illuminate the layered, relational and adaptive nature of Elders’ roles within higher education ecosystems. Our findings reveal that Elders’ roles are often misunderstood, inconsistently supported, and at risk of being reduced to symbolic gestures, rather than recognised as vital agents of reform and relational governance. We argue that (re)claiming Eldership within universities is essential to restoring Indigenous authority and embedding relational accountability at the centre of higher education ecosystems.
Engagement with Aboriginal communities is often claimed by governments and their institutions as the panacea for improving the lives of Aboriginal peoples, including Aboriginal student outcomes in education. This paper challenges these claims by examining Aboriginal communities’ perceptions, experiences and enactments of school engagement that provide critical conditions for these improvements. In the Culturally Nourishing Schooling (CNS) project, five local Aboriginal community case studies prioritised community voices through its Aboriginal community-led committee, the Blak Caucus (BC). Community meetings were held and the accompanying research co-designed with the BC to ensure Aboriginal community protocols, accountabilities and data sovereignty featured in the research process. Data was generated from BC facilitated yarns, which were recorded, transcribed and communicated through visual maps to generate discussion within and between community participants. Four themes were constructed through thematic analysis: the importance of understanding local history and context; the criticality of clear, consistent communication; the role of shared spaces in dismantling barriers between schools and communities; and the protocols required to engage with Aboriginal communities. What became clear was that relationships, collective trust and two-way dialogue can provide promising pathways to building power-equal partnerships between New South Wales schools and Aboriginal communities.
This study examines a critical phenomenon in Australian higher education: the disconnect between university leaders’ self-reported confidence and experience in Indigenous contexts. Drawing on data from a national survey and in-depth interviews with 41 university executives, we identify a confidence-competence paradox in which leaders express high confidence in engaging with Indigenous peoples and communities despite limited direct experience. In this study, competence is operationalised through self-reported experience in Indigenous higher education and leadership in Indigenous contexts, rather than through external assessment, enabling examination of the gap between leaders’ confidence and their own acknowledged experience levels. We employed a mixed-method approach, utilising the Senior Leadership Capability Model (SLCM) to investigate the level of confidence and competence of executive university leaders in supporting Indigenous success. While only 22% of participants reported being very experienced in Indigenous higher education, 72% expressed confidence in Indigenous engagement. The model addresses the unrealistic expectations often placed on small numbers of Indigenous leaders who are frequently under-resourced and solely responsible for Indigenous outcomes across institutions. This paper explores the implications of the confidence-competence disconnect for leadership development, cultural competency training and sustainable institutional change.
This study investigates the integration of Indigenous perspectives within information and communication technology (ICT) curricula across Australian universities, addressing four research questions relating to the extent of integration, approaches used, influencing factors and characteristics of effective practice. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight ICT educators and data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Nine themes were identified. Findings indicate that integration remains limited and inconsistent, often driven by individual initiative rather than systematic institutional approaches. While universities demonstrate policy commitments, these are not consistently enacted in curriculum design. Educators employ strategies such as contextualised assignments, interdisciplinary offerings and emerging Indigenous pedagogical frameworks. Key barriers include limited discipline-specific resources, structural curriculum constraints and lack of targeted support. Enablers include collaboration with Indigenous experts and culturally relevant teaching approaches that enhance student engagement. The study offers insights to inform curriculum development, institutional policy and future research in ICT education.
