by FRANZISKA TREDE and SONAL SINGH

The burden of the pandemic has not fallen evenly. Existing societal inequities have been laid bare, while in higher education the complexity of the student-university interface for equity group students and their Indigenous and international peers has been exacerbated (Green et al.2020).

Mediating individual student disadvantage over COVID has become a whole system imperative and no longer a cohort specific one. In HE, day-to-day inclusive practice and the promotion of social justice more broadly are whole-of-institution imperatives and everybody’s business – all staff, all students and all leaders. Australia has an educational equity problem that requires urgent redress and proactive action to ensure that disadvantage and inequity are not further entrenched and perpetuated (NCSEHE,2019).

Equity and inclusion in HE are often approached as an add-on activity; something nice to do but not essential. There might be well-structured, engaging websites about student support services and how to get help but students struggle to find them. In some cases, we approach inclusion with a “we’ve-done-all-we-can-do” attitude. This often results in tick-boxing exercises that do not advance the systematic cultural change that is sorely needed.

Particularly problematic is that the university model of learning and engagement prioritises certain types of knowledge – and types of people – above others. We often expect our diverse student (and staff) cohorts to fit into traditional university structures and systems, rather than assume responsibility for adapting to the diversity of their needs and expectations.

What is needed now is not more rhetoric around equity, diversity and inclusion, but concrete action to create university cultures that enable all students and dismantle HE’s documented structural inequality. There is no better time than now to further disrupt the HE system and actively work towards social justice and mechanisms of inclusion rather than exclusion. Moreover, evidence suggests that diverse and inclusive organisations are more likely to be innovative and creative, building an ethos of entrepreneurship that is the holy grail for contemporary HE providers.

In the 21st century, universities need to deliver both quality education and research and accept a moral responsibility to drive positive social change. Institutions all over the world are competing to move up the global rankings, but many run the risk of losing sight of what is truly important: making the world a better place and delivering equitably available quality education in welcoming and culturally safe environments.

Practising inclusion should be mainstream university practice to support the core business of excellence in teaching and learning and a sense of student belonging. UTS has designed an interactive microcredential that introduces participants to the fundamentals of equity, human rights and social justice in the higher education space.

Participants will learn to:

* explore the concept of inclusion and exclusion in higher education

* understand the experiences of historically marginalised groups

* consider how culture, diversity and identity impact on learning and social interaction

* examine the principles for inclusion and adapt them to own professional context

* create conditions for change that produce more just, inclusive and equitable spaces

* translate theoretical learning into practise in your own work and life.

By the end of the course, participants will understand barriers to diversity and be ready to design practical solutions with inclusion at their core. We hope this course will fill a gap in the current Australian HE professional development landscape; a course that is available to academic and professional staff and senior executives, covering the depth and breadth of what it means to be an inclusive HE practitioner. This is our contribution to moving beyond more talk about inclusion to “practising inclusion.”

Franziska Trede, Associate Professor, Higher Education and Professional Practice, University of Technology Sydney [email protected] @tredefranziska 

Sonal Singh, Executive Manager Student Equity, Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion, University of Technology Sydney  [email protected] @SonalSingh2