The University of Sydney has unveiled a strategy to increase the participation of indigenous Australians in education and research, including targets that will need to be met in the areas of research, staff and students.
The four-year strategy, announced on 14 June, aims to increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander academic staff from 15 to 75 positions. The university also wants to lift the number of staff and students carrying out research in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues by at least 40 per cent by 2015, and increase funding for this kind of research by at least 25 percent, in the same period.
The initiative, which follows a major review of indigenous education commissioned by the University in 2008, includes the creation of a register of research specifically focused on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues, as well as research that has a high potential to contribute to this area.
The university also said it plans to create a number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander postgraduate scholarships that support mainly, but not exclusively, research based study.