The health inequities experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, rooted in the historical and ongoing negative impacts of colonisation and disrupted traditional lifestyles, sees higher rates of illness and hospitalisations, increased morbidity and higher premature death rates than other Australians. Nurses represent the majority…

Indigenous people in Australia experience considerably more dental and medical ill-health than non-Indigenous people. Cultural competence of dental and medical teams is crucial in the delivery of services to address these health disparities. Traditionally, cultural training has been incorporated later in health education curricula, resulting in…

With the rise of Higher Education institutions seeking increased Indigenous representation within staffing, publications, and student numbers, this article considers key methodological processes, issues, and challenges associated with utilizing and embodying Indigenous and Storytelling research practises within colonial contexts. The value of new…

Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities face complex challenges that require Indigenous-led research. Increasing the Indigenous research workforce depends on structural change within higher education institutions, including better pathways to research training and careers for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.…

'Environmentalizing' curriculum in Brazil is a worthy goal of global educational reform for sustainability but is challenging given the limits to rational change thesis already argued in critical social science and post-structural deconstructionism. The federal government mandate to environmentalize undergraduate physical education programs poses…

First Nations writing within English literary studies risks contemporary colonisation if encountered as a literary object for close reading without context or reflection on the role of the reader. This article will explore the processes involved in constructing an innovative reading practice amongst tertiary students to counter the potential for…

Little research addresses graduate transition issues faced by transnational education (TNE) stakeholders. This paper's conceptual framework situates alumni as central stakeholders and potential partners in developing crucial insights into TNE graduate transitions. We interviewed alumni of an Australian university campus in Vietnam (AUV) about…

"The term 'research' is inextricably linked to European imperialism and colonialism. The word itself 'research' is probably one of the dirtiest words in the Indigenous world's vocabulary" (Smith, 1999, p. 1). For many Aboriginal communities educational research can be seen with suspicion. In Aboriginal education much of the research is…

Like many other Australian universities, Curtin University identifies intercultural capabilities in its list of graduate attributes. Within this mandate, Curtin is increasingly foregrounding the need for graduates to develop Indigenous cultural capabilities. It is widely recognised that in order to develop these capabilities in graduates,…

"Child Development and Learning" integrates concepts of learning and development into one comprehensive text for understanding child development. At its core is the belief that learning and development are intertwined. As children learn, they also develop. As children develop, they also learn. With an understanding of how children…

This report, authored by Graeme Atherton, examines how universities who are seen as leading internationally and/or in their own national contexts are supporting greater access and success for learners from low-income and other marginalised groups. What can English universities learn from global institutions? By looking at how they work with…

The Whole of Community Engagement (WCE) initiative commenced in July 2014, led by the Office of Pro Vice Chancellor of Indigenous Leadership at Charles Darwin University (CDU). WCE aimed to build the aspiration, expectation and capacity of six remote and very remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory to participate and achieve in…

This article details reflections of an interdisciplinary team of educators working with groups of health sciences students in preparing them for working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The first-year common core unit discussed here is one attempt to equip future health practitioners with skills and knowledges to work adequately…

Taking the Universities Australia report, "National best practice framework for Indigenous cultural competency in Australian universities" (2011) as the starting point for its discussion, this paper examines the applicability of cultural competence in the design and delivery of Australian Indigenous Studies. It argues that both the…

Social inclusion in Australian higher education was high on the agenda of the recent Rudd/Gillard Australian Government. This paper offers an assessment of that agenda, particularly the extent to which it worked in favour of under-represented groups. It argues that the Government's widening and expansion policies and its equity and aspiration…