ACIL Allen Consulting Evaluation of the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships
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2 ACIL Allen Consulting evaluation of the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program (HEPPP)
3 Submission by CAUL 5 September 2016
This submission was prepared with the assistance of CAUL members, and support from the CAUL office. 2
Prepared by Harry Rolf, Communication and Policy Officer, CAUL Contact: (02) 6125 2990 or [email protected]
2 4 Summary The Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the evaluation of the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program (HEPPP). This submission shall provide input from the perspective of Australian university libraries to the evaluation of the HEPPP. CAUL views the HEPPP as an extremely significant program, and a source of project funding that would otherwise not be available to support equity and diversity in higher education. CAUL has a number of recommendations to contribute to the evaluation of the HEPPP, which are as follows:
Recommendations That participation and support for low SES students continues to be part of the national agenda for higher education in Australia. That the HEPPP or a scheme with a similar intent and purpose continues to receive national funding and support. That the evaluation considers the consistency and stability of funding for HEPPP activities, including the potential benefits of ongoing vs fixed term funding on the effective delivery of HEPPP activities, and achievement of desired outcomes.
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5 Introduction The Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) is the peak leadership organisation for university libraries in Australia. CAUL seeks to enhance the value and capacity of Australian university libraries to influence scholarship, learning, and information policies and practices relevant to Australian higher education. CAUL members are the University Librarians or equivalent of the 39 institutions that have representation on Universities Australia. University libraries are diverse institutions, which have important roles in many aspects of university core business and enable the university to meet its regulatory requirements such as under the Higher Education Standards (HES)1 framework. The incoming Higher Education Standards framework 2015 (the Standards) has a specific focus on institutional support for diversity and equity. Section 2.2 of the Standards says that learning and teaching policies, practices and approaches need to accommodate diversity and create equivalent opportunities for success – regardless of a student’s background and taking into consideration under-representations and/or disadvantage experience by identified groups such as Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders peoples. The Standards state that progress and completion by identified groups needs to be monitored and findings used to inform learning and teaching, support and participation by those groups. In this context, the HEPPP scheme is particularly relevant to university libraries who are involved in their institutions’ equity and diversity agendas and HEPPP activity. Libraries provide services and programs ranging from information resources to expert advice, tailored programs and activities to support their institutions’ learning and teaching agenda and the needs of their diverse students. HEPPP and the university library The HEPPP scheme funds activities that target undergraduate students from low SES backgrounds to increase the participation of current and prospective students in accredited undergraduate qualification. According to section 1.40.1 of the Other Grants Guidelines (Education) 2012, the purpose of the HEPPP is to: ‘[Provide] funding to providers to undertake activities and implement strategies that improve access to undergraduate courses for people from low SES backgrounds and improve their retention and completion rates’. The funding is distributed across three components, which include activities targeting participation, partnerships and a set of national priorities. HEPPP proposals need to demonstrate that they meet a range of principles under the scheme that include collaboration, early intervention and continuing engagement, awareness, integrated, are multi-layered, participation focused, and evidence based. University libraries through their institutions received HEPPP funds for a diverse range of projects and services. These included providing laptops, video streaming databases and other resources, specific eBook packages or eTextbooks, programs providing targeted skills development, and targeted information sessions. HEPPP funds also covered specific staffing arrangements, helped develop resources for specific social inclusion initiatives and enabled institution wide delivery across multiple sites.
1 http://www.teqsa.gov.au/teqsa-contextual-overview-hes-framework 4 Three examples of programs from university libraries in Australia are as follows: At James Cook University (JCU)2 the library has been involved in the delivery of information sessions to targeted groups through HEPP funded pathways programs3 including Young Diplomats, Indigenous Health Careers Access Program (IHCAP), Introductory Academic Program, UniStart, UniPrep and to Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander schools, students and community organisations. Staff in the JCU library also teach into three core subjects in the Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE) that provides an articulation pathway. In 2015 staff taught 31 classes to 817 students and prepared two library guides for the DipHE (ref) which received more than 30,000 views – comparable to other high use guides produced by the library and which received positive feedback from staff and students. At Victoria University (VU) HEPPP funding supports a highly successful Learning Commons program4 that hosts student mentors who deliver services to students in the library across multiple university sites. Services provided by the program include Student Rovers who assist students with general low-level library activities such as printing or searching the library site and student mentors who provide a drop-in centre services that assists with writing, mathematics, career support and other student needs. At the University of Newcastle (UON) the library and librarians have responsibilities for the design and delivery of pathway initiatives and activities in collaboration with the Foundation Studies and Indigenous Support units. Over the last 6 years, HEPPP funding has been available to develop specific resources including online tutorials to support UON’s Foundation Programs, for example the Hyperjinks Higher (2012)5 online learning tool to help secondary school students develop information literacy skills that will assist them throughout their school years and beyond. The library’s contributions have been recognised through external awards, notably an Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) 2014 Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning award to the universities Week Zero study ready program Team for ‘an innovative online orientation which has significantly enhanced the engagement and experience of students commencing an online enabling program’. National importance and challenges Since the introduction of the demand driven system and removal of caps on undergraduate student places there has been considerable growth in higher education enrolments. According to a report by the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE) between 2007 and 2014 this growth was matched by growth in enrolments by students from disadvantaged and diverse backgrounds. However, as a share of total enrolments, there has been limited change in participation and for some equity groups this has declined. The total share of low SES enrolments increased by 1.65%, with low SES students making up 17.9% of total enrolments in 2014 – the greatest change in total share of all defined equity groups (Koshy & Seymour, 2015). However, in an increasingly competitive environment, the presence of a scheme like the HEPPP is particularly important for continuing to improve the total number of enrolments, both across the higher education sector as well as in specific areas. The national scheme continues to fulfil an important national role promoting equity and diversity in higher education by:
2 https://www.jcu.edu.au/engage/schools/in-school-program/about-hepp 3 [Update] Changes from ‘library delivers a range of pathways programs’ in original document based on feedback to accurately reflect the JCU libraries involvement in HEPP/P activities. 4 https://www.vu.edu.au/campuses-services/student-support/academic-support/student-mentors- student-rovers 5 https://downloads.newcastle.edu.au/library/tutorials/hyperjinks-high/index.html 5 6
promoting shared practice across the sector by following a partnerships approach and encouraging shared benefit; providing greater national benefit through public reporting and sector wide evaluation, and consistency through national priorities; enabling institutions that are best placed to deliver results to take advantage of their local situations and unique opportunities; and, reducing the competitive risk for institutions, allowing them to focus on promoting equity and diversity without disadvantaging themselves. University libraries view the HEPPP scheme as extremely important to the University and to the broader equity and diversity agenda for several reasons: raising student aspirations, recruitment and improving retention of students; facilitating the provision of programs and supporting services, particularly those involving peer-to-peer activities and cross-institutional delivery; and; enabling the fast tracking of successful programs and the trial of new services and resources within an institution, which may not otherwise have been possible A key challenge for the HEPPP as identified by university libraries is the fixed term nature of funding. This creates inconsistency in the delivery of, and affects the stability of, programs and services where staff are involved or ongoing resourcing is necessary. Consistent support is important if low SES students are to overcome the complex factors affecting their ability to complete university, and at a rate comparable with their high SES counterparts (Lim 2015). 6 References Koshy, P. and Seymour, R. (2015). Student Equity Performance in Australian Higher Education: 2007 to 2014. National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE), Perth: Curtin University. Retrieved from
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