Australian Universities’ Review - A profile of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander higher education student population - Study on participation, retention and completion statistics

Oct 15, 2026

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A profile of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander higher education student population synthesizes recent statistics on participation, enrolment, retention, and completion. The analysis emphasizes that, despite initiatives to reduce under-representation, Indigenous participation remains far below population parity. It also highlights the need for careful attention to definitions, sources, measurement, collection, interpretation, and analysis of higher-education data. The work concludes that effective university transition requires improving retention and completion, alongside strengthening the quality of student engagement and experiences.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Background

Data sources and reporting practices

Challenges in measurement and interpretation

Implications for transitions and outcomes

A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W A profile of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander higher education student population Judith Wilks & Katie Wilson Southern Cross University This paper brings together recent statistics relating to the participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in higher education. A number of key statistical realities relating to their enrolment into, retention during, and completion of, their university courses are depicted. Foremost among these realities is that despite initiatives over recent years to redress their under-representation, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students’ participation in higher education remains significantly below the population parity rate. This paper also warns about the need to exercise care about definitions, sources, measurement, collection, interpretation and analysis of data in the higher education field relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It concludes that successful transitions to university involve not just success in enrolling more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, but in improving their retention and completion rates, and moreover, the qualities of their engagements and experiences in university life during their journey through higher education. Keywords: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Indigenous, higher education, statistics, university, vocational and educational training Introduction This paper provides an overview of statistics relating to the current and recent experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in higher education. It draws from an Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) funded project conducted during 2011-2013, entitled Can’t be what you can’t see: The transition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students into higher education (see Kinnane, Wilks, Wilson, Hughes & Thomas, 2014) . This project documented the processes, the data, the pathways, the enablers, the constraints, and the opportunities associated with the transition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students into higher education. It concluded that there has been a steady increase in Indigenous student numbers since the first Aboriginal person graduated from university in 1966.However, as the statistics put forward in this paper demonstrate, Indigenous participation in higher education remains significantly below the population parity rate, despite initiatives over recent years to redress this. Note: The terms ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander’and‘Indigenous’are used interchangeably in this article. Background Enhancing transitions for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, and for other under-represented groups, vol. 57, no. 2, 2015 A profile of the A&TSI higher education student population Judith Wilks & Katie Wilson 17 A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W requires a greater focus on targets for increasing student higher education completions. It also requires appropriate resources and governance to work with community-based and Indigenous Education Unit based assets that are already in place. Kinnane etal. (2014) found that there is significant scope for increasing and strengthening Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students’ transitions into higher education by building on the assets already in place, including supporting university Indigenous Education Units to engage in leading practice toward this end. The enrolment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in Vocational Education and Training (VET) is higher than in university, although there are variations in this pattern in the states and territories, especially those with a dominant mining sector. VET to university is not a strong pathway for students into higher education, with 4.9 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students making the transition in 2012, compared to 7.9 per cent for non-Indigenous stu

FAQs

What main statistics does the paper examine about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students?

The paper brings together statistics on participation in higher education, focusing on enrolment, retention during university courses, and completion outcomes.

What does the paper identify as a key concern regarding Indigenous participation in higher education?

It states that Indigenous participation remains significantly below the population parity rate despite initiatives intended to address under-representation.

Why does the paper warn about care in handling higher education data?

It highlights difficulties arising from inconsistent definitions, sources, measurement, data collection, interpretation, and analysis, which can affect accuracy and make trend comparisons difficult.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Ben