This IAU Policy Statement contains recommendations for both higher education institutions and for Governments. It focuses on:
- improving access to higher education to all without discrimination
- improving participation by equity groups
- improving seamless linkages and pathways between higher education and other forms of education and training
- the need for a transparent qualifications framework.
Universities Australia, for its part, has already taken steps in line with the principles set out in the IAU Statement. These include:
- contributing to the Senate Inquiry into Rural and Regional Access to Secondary and Tertiary Education Opportunities (August 2009)
- commissioning the scoping study report, Participation and equity in higher education: A review of the participation in higher education of people from low socioeconomic backgrounds and Indigenous people (March 2008)
- working in cooperation with the Australian Government to implement the report's recommendations, including the release of the Universities Australia Action Plan, Advancing Participation and Equity in Australian Higher Education (April 2008)
- crafting the revised AVCC guidelines relating to students with a disability (May 2006) (first released in 1996)
- crafting the revised Universities and their Students: Principles for the Provision of Education by Australian Universities (August 2005) (incorporating and updating various codes and guidelines developed from the early 1990s)
- contributing to the Australian Qualifications Framework project on credit transfer and articulation.
Should you require further information please contact the Policy & Analysis section.
