Hostname: page-component-5d84bcc8dc-k57jl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-08-18T01:32:39.222Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Brilliant Minds: A Snapshot of Successful Indigenous Australian Doctoral Students

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2016

Michelle Trudgett ,
Susan Page  and
Neil Harrison
Michelle Trudgett*
Affiliation:
Centre for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges, University of Technology Sydney, PO Box 123 Broadway, Sydney, New South Wales, 2007, Australia
Susan Page
Affiliation:
Centre for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges, University of Technology Sydney, PO Box 123 Broadway, Sydney, New South Wales, 2007, Australia
Neil Harrison
Affiliation:
School of Education, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, 2109, Australia
*
address for correspondence: Michelle Trudgett, University of Technology, PO Box 123 Broadway, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia. Email: Michelle.Trudgett@uts.edu.au
Get access

Abstract

Drawing on demographic data collected from interviews with 50 Indigenous Australians with a doctoral qualification and 33 of their supervisors, this paper provides the first detailed picture of Indigenous doctoral education in Australia, with the focus on study modes, age of candidates, completion times and employment. It also analyses data produced through interviews with supervisors including age, employment levels and academic background. The study confronts a number of common perceptions in the higher education sector, to find that many Indigenous Australians are awarded their doctoral qualification in the middle stages of their career. This particular cohort is more likely to be studying in the arts and humanities, employed in higher education and enrolled on a full-time basis. This Australian Research Council (ARC) funded research provides new and important data to inform government policy, and to allow universities to implement strategies and recommendations arising from the Behrendt Report of 2012.

Keywords

postgraduatesupervisionhigher education

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , August 2016 , pp. 70 - 79
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Andersen, C., Bunda, T., & Walter, M. (2008). Indigenous higher education: The role of universities in releasing the potential. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 37, 1–8.Google Scholar
Asmar, C., & Page, S. (2009). Sources of satisfaction and stress among Indigenous academic teachers: Findings from a national Australian study. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 29(3), 387–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barney, K. (2013). ‘Taking your mob with you’: Giving voice to the experiences of Indigenous Australian postgraduate students’. Higher Education Research & Development, 32(4), 515–528.Google Scholar
Behrendt, L., Larkin, S., Griew, R., & Kelly, P. (2012). Review of higher education access and outcomes for Aboriginal and torres strait islander people – final report. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Bock, A. (2014). Academics open doors to social benefits. The Age, 17th March, 2014. Education Supplement, 14.Google Scholar
Creswell, J.W. (2013). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage publications.Google Scholar
Denzin, N.K., & Lincoln, Y.S. (Eds.). (1994). Handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Department of Education and Training. (2015). Selected higher education statistics – Time series data and publications. Australian Government. Retrieved August 7, 2015 from https://education.gov.au/selected-higher-education-statistics-2014-student-data.Google Scholar
Grant, B., & McKinley, E. (2011). Colouring the pedagogy of doctoral supervision: Considering supervisor, student and knowledge through the lens of indigeneity. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 48(4), 377–386.Google Scholar
Heckathorn, D.D. (2011). Comment: Snowball versus respondent-driven sampling. Sociological methodology, 41(1), 355–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henry, J. (2007). Supervising Aboriginal doctoral candidates. In Denholm, C. & Evans, T. (Eds.), Supervising doctorates downunder: Keys to effective supervision in Australia and New Zealand (pp. 153–163). Camberwell, Victoria: ACER Press.Google Scholar
Indigenous Higher Education Advisory Council. (2006). Improving Indigenous outcomes and enhancing Indigenous culture and knowledge in Australian higher education. Report to the Minister Education, Science and Training.Google Scholar
Indigenous Higher Education Advisory Council. (2010). Submission to consultation paper: Meetings Australia's workforce needs. A consultation paper to inform the development of the Australian Government's research workforce strategy. Report to the Department of Innovation, Industry Science and Training.Google Scholar
James, R., Krause, K.L., & Jennings, C. (2010). The first year experience in Australian universities. Canberra: Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations [DEEWR].Google Scholar
Kiley, M. (2011). Developments in research supervisor training: Causes and responses. Studies in Higher Education, 36(5), 585–599.Google Scholar
Manathunga, C. (2005). The development of research supervision: Turning the light on a private space. International Journal for Academic Development, 10(1), 17–30.Google Scholar
Martin, K. (2003). Ways of knowing, ways of being and ways of doing: A theoretical framework and methods for Indigenous re-search and Indigenist research. Journal of Australian Studies, 27(6), 203–214.Google Scholar
McCallin, A., & Nayar, S. (2012). Postgraduate research supervision: A critical review of current practice. Teaching in Higher Education, 17(1), 63–74.Google Scholar
Nakata, M. (1998). Anthropological texts and Indigenous standpoints. Australian Aboriginal Studies, 2, 3–12.Google Scholar
New South Wales Board of Studies. (nd) We are strong 1971–1994 Aboriginal educational contexts. Retrieved July 30, 2015 from http://ab-ed.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/files/aboriginal-timeline-poster6.pdf.Google Scholar
Page, S., & Asmar, C. (2008) Beneath the teaching iceberg: Exposing the hidden support dimensions of Indigenous academic work. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 37S, 109–117.Google Scholar
Pechenkina, E., & Anderson, I. (2011). Background Paper on Indigenous Australian Higher Education: Trends. Initiatives and Policy Implications. Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.Google Scholar
Rigney, L.I. (1999). Internationalization of an Indigenous anticolonial cultural critique of research methodologies: A guide to Indigenist research methodology and its principles. Wicazo sa Review, 14(2), 109–121.Google Scholar
Rigney, L.I. (2011). Indigenous higher education reform and Indigenous knowledges. Review of Indigenous Higher Education Consultancy. Retrieved July 15, 2015 from http://Docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/rigney_2011.doc.Google Scholar
Schofield, T., O'Brien, R., & Gilroy, J. (2013). Indigenous higher education: Overcoming barriers to participation in research higher degree programs. Australian Aboriginal Studies, 2, 13–28.Google Scholar
Stake, R.E. (2005). Qualitative case studies. In , N.K. Denzin, & Lincoln, Y.S. (Eds.), The sage handbook of qualitative research (pp. 443–466). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Strelein, L. (2011). AIATSIS an incubator for Indigenous researchers? Lessons from the Indigenous visiting research fellowship and AIATSIS grants program. Retrieved July 15, 2015 from http://aiatsis.gov.au/publications/products/aiatsis-incubator-indigenous-researchers.Google Scholar
Teddlie, C., & Yu, F. (2007). Mixed methods sampling a typology with examples. Journal of mixed methods research, 1(1), 77–100.Google Scholar
Trudgett, M. (2009). ‘Build it and they will come: Building the capacity of Indigenous units in universities to provide better support for Indigenous postgraduate students’. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 38, 9–18.Google Scholar
Trudgett, M. (2011). Western places, academic spaces and indigenous faces: Supervising Indigenous Australian postgraduate students. Teaching in Higher Education, 16(4), 389–399.Google Scholar
Trudgett, M. (2013). Stop, collaborate and listen: A guide to seeding success for Indigenous higher degree research students. In Craven, R.G. & Mooney, J. (Eds.), Seeding success in Indigenous Australian higher education (diversity in higher education) (vol. 14, pp. 137–155). Bingley: Emerald.Google Scholar
Trudgett, M. (2014). Supervision provided to Indigenous Australian doctoral students: A black and white issue. Higher Education Research & Development, 33(5), 1035–1048.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilks, J., & Wilson, K. (2015). A profile of the Aboriginal and torres strait Islander higher education student population. Australian Universities' Review, 57(2), 17–30.Google Scholar