Purpose
NSW/ Sydney basin universities are committed to working together to widen participation in higher education, particularly by Indigenous and low socio-economic status background people.
It aims to achieve this through increasing aspirations, raising awareness about options, opportunities and benefits of higher education study, supporting schools to improve attainment levels and by providing enhanced opportunities for students to access higher education.
These objectives will be achieved through:
- working collaboratively across universities to publicise the benefits of higher education to students, parents, communities and schools
- providing opportunities for students to directly experience the benefits of higher education and increase the knowledge of students and their care- givers on the resources available to enable students to enter and succeed within higher education
- providing informed comment, from a university viewpoint, to state and federal government on policies, programs and approaches aimed at widening participation within higher education
- sharing research and resources as appropriate on: key issues related to widening participation, examples of effective programs, evaluation approaches for programs
- identifying and implementing collaborative projects and events that will maximize our resources and increase the engagement of students and disadvantaged communities
- identifying and where appropriate collaboratively addressing common barriers to participation – such as inadequate transport and lack of affordable housing
- consulting with and working collaboratively with key stakeholders including DET, schools, TAFE and community organisations (such as Smith Family)
SWPHEF is not about promoting the benefits of a particular university, but about working collaboratively to build aspirations, educational attainment and awareness to increase and widen participation in higher education by disadvantaged groups.