Outcome 6: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students reach their full potential through further education pathways

Target 6: By 2031, increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 25–34 years who have completed a tertiary qualification (Certificate III and above) to 70 per cent.

Minister responsible

Minister for Skills and Training, Minister for Education

Productivity Commission national progress against the target

The most recent data for this target is from 2016. This target remains a focus for data development under the Data Development Plan.

The path forward

Providing more opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to achieve higher level qualifications is a vital step in significantly improving employment prospects, and other social and life outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

To achieve this target, the Commonwealth will focus on enabling Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander vocational education and training (VET) and university students from commencement through to completion, to support a lift in attainment of Certificate III and above qualifications.

The Commonwealth recognises that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities are best placed to inform how we can achieve this target. The importance of self-determination, partnerships and shared decision-making and the positive impact of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations in delivering services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will be key. Priority will be given to:

• Establishing formal partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders, strengthening existing partnerships and building opportunities in the higher education and VET sectors, and working closely with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student bodies and the Coalition of Peaks
• Ensuring that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have access to culturally safe and appropriate education and training, and the tailored support that may be needed to gain the skills and education they need to participate in well-paid and secure jobs
• Addressing barriers to access, participation, retention, attendance and completion through appropriate policy settings and initiatives
• Involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in the design and delivery of services that affect them, and embedding meaningful cultural safety in learning environments
• Strengthening the Aboriginal community-controlled sector by ensuring a key role in the delivery of training and education to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Through these priorities, the Commonwealth will exchange ideas, identify new opportunities and initiatives to inform immediate actions, and create the right policy settings to meet Target 6. These priorities will also support Targets 7 and 8, in recognition that post-training employment rates are generally higher for those with higher-level qualifications. Similarly, the efforts to achieve better outcomes in early childhood, primary and high school education (Targets 3, 4 and 5) will lay the foundation for success for this target into the future.

Initiatives such as Fee-Free TAFE and the Universities Accord will drive change through the VET and higher education sectors to improve access and make tertiary studies a more attractive option for First Nations peoples.

Reforms in the VET sector will better support First Nations students, make training delivery more culturally safe and appropriate for students, and improve student access to wrap-around supports while they are in training.

A strong and thriving Aboriginal community-controlled training sector will be key to delivering on the targets, as well as working collaboratively across all Australian governments on longer-term skills reforms that will improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander VET students.

Better use of the world-class Australian universities to increase the number of First Nations students succeeding in higher education is required. The Commonwealth will build on opportunities through the Universities Accord and investment through the Indigenous Student Success Program to help drive cultural changes within each university, addressing issues of racism and making each campus a place where First Nations students can thrive.

Priority actions

Strengthening foundation skills

The Commonwealth will lift its focus on the provision of foundational English language, literacy, numeracy and digital skills to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as a key enabler for educational, social and economic participation. The new National Study on Adult Literacy, Numeracy and Digital Literacy will include working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders on a feasibility study into how best to assess the skill level of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including those in regional and remote communities. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations will be part of the membership of the Foundation Skills Advisory Group to guide the design of the new National Study.

Upskilling First Nations Australians

The Commonwealth is partnering with state and territory governments to deliver 180,000 Fee‑Free TAFE and vocational educational places from 1 January 2023 until 31 December 2023. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will have priority access, and there is flexibility for states and territories to engage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled registered training organisations to deliver this training.

Skills ministers are working to finalise a new National Skills Agreement to start in early 2024, a key principle of which will be support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to access training and culturally safe and appropriate wrap-around supports. During 2023, specific priorities for action under the new agreement will be developed in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and stakeholders. The Commonwealth will continue to strengthen existing programs and services to ensure culturally appropriate support is provided to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander apprentices.

Skills in the context of the workforce

A key function of Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) will be extensive consultation with stakeholders to better understand Australia’s skills, labour market and workforce needs and to provide advice to government on opportunities to improve employment, VET and higher education outcomes for individuals from disadvantaged cohorts. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who have historically experienced labour market disadvantage and exclusion, will be a focus for JSA and partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders will underpin how JSA undertakes that key function.

Supporting university education

The Commonwealth is providing $2.7 million to deliver the Australian Universities Accord (the Accord), to be led by a panel of eminent Australians, including Professor Larissa Behrendt AO. The Accord will consist of a 12-month review of Australia’s higher education system to consider new targets and reforms to support greater access and participation for students from underrepresented cohorts, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The Commonwealth has provided $20.5 million over four years to expand the work of the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE) at Curtin University to connect research, policy and practice to improve higher education access, participation, success and completion for under-represented cohorts, including First Nations peoples. The refreshed NCSEHE also delivers a new First Nations Fellowship program which assists in improving higher education outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The Commonwealth continues to invest in the Indigenous Student Success Program (ISSP), which provides flexibility to allow universities to support First Nations students into and through university. Through the ISSP, universities offer scholarships, tutorial assistance, mentoring, safe cultural spaces and other personal support services to First Nations students. In 2023, over $75 million has been allocated to 40 universities to help more than 21,000 First Nations students.

Higher education access for remote areas

The Commonwealth is supporting all Aboriginal and Torres Strait people living in regional and remote Australia with a guaranteed non-medical Commonwealth supported place at a ‘Table A’ university of their choice, when accepted into their chosen course of study. The Government’s Research Training Program also includes financial incentives for higher education providers to enrol Indigenous Higher Degree by Research students and support them through completion.

Summary of new actions

*A full appendix of new and existing measures being undertaken by the Commonwealth to support Closing the Gap efforts is on the NIAA website, at Closing the Gap implementation measures.