1. Will the Bradley recommendations improve equity?
Implications of the Bradley Review recommendations for student equity groups
Will the Bradley recommendations improve equity?
Richard James
Director, Centre for the Study of Higher Education
University of Melbourne

2. First, a broadbrush sketch of the Australian equity context
Social class differences in school completion rates and levels of achievement are central to the present inequalities in access to higher education.
“By international standards Australia has high-quality but relatively low-equity schooling compared with other high-quality countries. It also has far too few young people finishing upper secondary schooling or its equivalent.” (p.69) “Improving equity will require a focus on low performance, not on disadvantaged social background per se, but we cannot ignore the fact that poor performance is more strongly related to social disadvantage in Australia than in some other high-performing countries” (p. 73)
McGaw, in Marginson & James (2008) Education, Science and Public Policy: Ideas for an education revolution.

3. Persistent, near static, underrepresentation (in share of places) for people of low SES, rural/remote people and Indigenous people.
This underrepresentation greatest in the universities and courses for which there is the most demand.
Hints of growing social polarisation between universities.
First year attrition a problem for many universities, but this problem is (perhaps surprisingly) quite evenly dispersed across student sub-groups. Retention rates for low SES and rural are generally on a par with other groups. However, retention is a particular issue for remote people and Indigenous people.

4. First year attrition 2006, illustrative universities (%, DEEWR data for commencing domestic students)
All Low students SES
Total
No. 1 uni
No. 9 uni
No.18 uni
No.27 uni
No.36 uni
(Worst uni )

5. The Bradley recommendations: Towards universal higher education?
Expansion of overall participation in HE, targets for identified groups
Funding for outreach, loading for low SES enrolment
Student entitlements, student income support
The first attempt at a policy framework for ‘universalising’ participation in Australian undergraduate education. PLUS, Bradley also attempts to unlock the stasis in equity policy since Lin Martin’s original work.
Social, political and educational issues and tensions are inevitable as the nation (and the HE sector) develops a new conception of the purposes and structures of higher education.
The interactions between the recommendations in the Bradley package will be critical to the outcomes.

6. So, will the Bradley recommendations improve equity?
Cautiously, yes, but there are no guarantees.

7. There are six interlocking conditions for achieving expansion and equity on the scale proposed by Bradley:
New campuses and/or institutions
Expansion of the academic workforce
Institutional mission differentiation
More open entry
Curriculum innovation & diversification, for accessibility and relevance
Strategies for retention in first year

8. Reliant on federal funding & pricing policies
New campuses and/or institutions
Expansion of the academic workforce
Institutional mission differentiation
More open entry
Curriculum innovation & diversification, for accessibility and relevance
Strategies for retention in first year

9. Reliant on federal funding & pricing policies
New campuses and/or institutions
Expansion of the academic workforce
Institutional mission differentiation
More open entry
Curriculum innovation & diversification, for accessibility and relevance
Strategies for retention in first year
Contingent on national policy settings and institutional cultures

10. New campuses and/or institutions
Expansion of the academic workforce
Institutional mission differentiation
More open entry
Curriculum innovation & diversification, for accessibility and relevance
Strategies for retention in first year
Not simply a matter of $, these require shifts in institutional policies and priorities, and new academic cultures and attitudes

11. New campuses and/or institutions Expansion of the academic workforce
Institutional mission differentiation
More open entry
Curriculum innovation & diversification, for accessibility and relevance
Strategies for retention in first year
Complex issues at this nexus — the extent and nature of institutional differentiation will be central to the goals for expansion and equity.

12. Some of the unknowns, gaps
Can higher demand for higher education be generated? (demand has been rising only slowly)
How would equity targets be set at institutional level? (as the UA response to the Bradley report described it, there are “differential circumstances of institutions”)
What would be the effects of a competitive model for outreach and low SES enrolment? Why not a collaborative approach?
How would student entitlements be married with institutional selection policies? (Much to be worked through here)
Can undifferentiated, low-status bachelors degrees be avoided?
How can conceptions of equity be broadened to more effectively embrace postgraduate education & international education?