by SARAH O’SHEA

The Universities Accord has galvanised academics, practitioners and policy makers into “blue sky thinking” concerning how the sector might look ten, 20 and 30 years from now. A smorgasbord of submissions addresses the 49 big questions posed in the recent Discussion Paper.

In relation to educational access and opportunity, much can be achieved by simply revisiting one fundamental purpose of universities: creating better societies. This underlying  “civic duty” is detailed in the Higher Education Threshold Standards (2021), which require providers to “demonstrate strong civic leadership.” As recently affirmed and explained by “Professor Margaret Gardner, this civic value is “not just about employability but about the quality of […] life, the quality of our society – the joy of watching people discover”

This is how we need to think about higher education equity moving forward: an integral part of a university’s civic and social purpose. Reframing in this way can positively expand how equity is operationalised and positioned in the academy per se: for example, by

* shifting equity from being an “add-on” or bolted onto existing activities to foregrounding the need for an “equity lens” to be applied across all university activities. In teaching and learning, we already have excellent frameworks to enable this: for example, Kift’s Transition Pedagogy and also Universal Design for Learning, both of which optimise educational experiences for all students.

* eschewing crossovers between equity initiatives and marketing or recruitment activities. Perceived “return on investment” should never inform engagement with disadvantaged communities. Equity and outreach is never about “getting bums on seats”, but instead concerns “opening up” educational futures (regardless of final educational destinations).

* ensuring early departure is not conceived as failure but, for some, as necessity. Rather than the punitive failure” measures introduced under the Job Ready Graduates Package, it is far better to offer, as the Productivity Commission states: “an orderly and low-cost exit from higher education,” including nested qualifications so that learning can be evidenced to employers.

* being accepting of all: we know certain students are more likely to depart university early (for example, part-time, external learners). But sustaining diversity in student populations offers richness to institutional environments. This may be perceived as a gamble by administrators but, equally, no-one has ‘University is good for me’ stamped on their forehead.

As the furore around the Accord settles, hopefully this basic civic duty of all universities is not overlooked in our equity plans for the future.

Professor Sarah O’Shea is an educational sociologist and previous Director, National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education. [email protected]  @seos895