Matthew Brett

Deakin University

In Australia, the Disability Discrimination Act and associated Educational Standards prevent educational institutions from treating people with disability less favourably than those without disability – directly or indirectly. However, people with disability are still subject to both economic and cultural disadvantage in Australian higher education...

This dissertation defines the heredity of Australian higher education. Consistent with higher education and public policy literature, this heredity is embedded in an integrated higher education and public policy cycle, bridged by legislation. Financing legislation between 1850 and 2020 was examined demonstrating that legislatures have accommodated...

Pitman, T., Brett, M., and Ellis, K. Three decades of misrecognition: defining people with disability in Australian higher education policy. Disability and Society. (accepted)

Harvey, A., Cakitaki, B., & Brett, M. (2018). Principles for equity in higher education performance funding. Report for the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education Research. Melbourne: Centre for Higher Education Equity and Diversity Research, La Trobe University.

This report investigates the social demography, learning outcomes and educational experiences of students enrolled in two distinct modes of higher education delivery in Australia – university programs delivered through third party arrangements, and higher education courses delivered by non-university higher education institutions (NUHEIs). In short...

Australia’s future depends on all its people, whoever and wherever they are, being enabled to successfully engage in beneficial lifelong learning.

This chapter positions the increase in the provision of pathway programs, including foundation and enabling programs, as a function of global trends shaping higher education and localised responses to social, economic, political and cultural factors. These localised responses play out against a broader global context, in which the increasing mobili...

This chapter explores the use of enabling programs by Australian universities to improve participation and success for students historically underrepresented in the nation’s higher education system. It draws on empirical evidence from a national research project designed to undertake a review of current enabling programs offered by Australian highe...

The Fellowship research sought to better understand how accountability for performance against equity policy goals and funding operates across the Australian higher education system. This entailed consideration of: how equity goals are defined; who defines equity goals; how equity goals are resourced; how performance against equity goals is monitor...

Enabling programs are not-for-degree programs designed to provide the necessary academic and cultural scaffolding for students who do not meet the institution’s usual admissions criteria. The evidence from the study indicates that Indigenous enabling pathways provide an important and effective environment in which the students develop a sense of be...

In 1990, the Australian Government published A Fair Chance for All, the first national framework for student equity in higher education. A Fair Chance for All declared that all Australians should have the opportunity to participate successfully in higher education, and that this objective could be met by ‘changing the balance of the student populat...

People with a disability comprise one of the largest growing and most complex groups within higher education. A Fair Chance for All noted that people with disabilities tend to be treated as a homogeneous group, but that assistance needs to be carefully targeted to individuals. Access has risen since the Framework was introduced, and universities ha...

This book examines twenty-five years of the Australian framework for student equity in higher education, A Fair Chance for All. Divided into two sections, the book reflects on the legacy of equity policy in higher education, the effectiveness of current approaches, and the likely challenges facing future policymakers. The first section explores the...

This chapter explores the role of knowledge within Australian higher education policy with specific emphasis on student equity. The Australian higher education system is designed to pursue teaching-, research-, and equity-related objectives. Teaching- and research-related objectives are broadly and successfully fulfilled through policy and funding,...

There has been a significant and consistent increase in the numbers and proportion of students disclosing disability at enrollment in Australian higher education. The growth in student numbers has paralleled the introduction and enhancement of legislative and policy instruments that enable their participation. Whilst significant changes are evident...

An ecological understanding of disability is emerging in international and research contexts. The disability policy framework operating in the Australian higher education sector is grounded in medical and social models of disability. The World Health Organisation International Classification of Functioning (ICF) can be considered an ecological mode...

Students with disabilities are one of the success stories of government equity policy over the previous decade. Access, participation, retention and success indicators have seen major improvements since data was first collected in the mid-nineties. This group however, is relatively absent from the first year experience and transition literatures. E...

The call centre industry is a relatively new phenomenon within Australia. The sector has undergone a period of rapid growth and is estimated to be worth $2.5b with an annual growth rate of 25%. Previously in Australia only large companies such as airlines, telecommunications and banks established call centres. Advancements in telecommunications tec...

The University of Melbourne has over a number of years developed a network of faculty contacts to assist in implementing supports for students with disabilities. The role of the Disability Contact Officer has evolved over time from being an additional administrative duty during examinations to a set of responsibilities now established in faculty st...