An Australian study of graduate outcomes for disadvantaged students

Whether or not disadvantaged students are realising the same benefits from higher education as their peers is of fundamental importance to equity practitioners and policymakers. Despite this, equity policy has focused on access to higher education and little attention has been paid to graduate outco...

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Main Authors: Pitman, Tim, Roberts, Lynne, Bennett, Dawn, Richardson, S.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Routledge 2017
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/55543
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author Pitman, Tim
Roberts, Lynne
Bennett, Dawn
Richardson, S.
author_facet Pitman, Tim
Roberts, Lynne
Bennett, Dawn
Richardson, S.
author_sort Pitman, Tim
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Whether or not disadvantaged students are realising the same benefits from higher education as their peers is of fundamental importance to equity practitioners and policymakers. Despite this, equity policy has focused on access to higher education and little attention has been paid to graduate outcomes. The Australian study reported here used national data to investigate relationships between disadvantage and graduate outcomes. The study provides critical insights into how access to higher education does, or does not, lead to improvements in post-graduation equity. The study reveals that outcomes are not equal for all students and that higher education disadvantage persists for many students after they have completed their studies. Whilst the specific findings relate to the Australian university sector the broader discussion of the article is relevant to higher education policy more generally, especially in terms of how governments align institutional processes to measure and scrutinise achievement in relation to public policy objectives.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-555432020-07-22T06:28:24Z An Australian study of graduate outcomes for disadvantaged students Pitman, Tim Roberts, Lynne Bennett, Dawn Richardson, S. Whether or not disadvantaged students are realising the same benefits from higher education as their peers is of fundamental importance to equity practitioners and policymakers. Despite this, equity policy has focused on access to higher education and little attention has been paid to graduate outcomes. The Australian study reported here used national data to investigate relationships between disadvantage and graduate outcomes. The study provides critical insights into how access to higher education does, or does not, lead to improvements in post-graduation equity. The study reveals that outcomes are not equal for all students and that higher education disadvantage persists for many students after they have completed their studies. Whilst the specific findings relate to the Australian university sector the broader discussion of the article is relevant to higher education policy more generally, especially in terms of how governments align institutional processes to measure and scrutinise achievement in relation to public policy objectives. 2017 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/55543 10.1080/0309877X.2017.1349895 Routledge fulltext
spellingShingle Pitman, Tim
Roberts, Lynne
Bennett, Dawn
Richardson, S.
An Australian study of graduate outcomes for disadvantaged students
title An Australian study of graduate outcomes for disadvantaged students
title_full An Australian study of graduate outcomes for disadvantaged students
title_fullStr An Australian study of graduate outcomes for disadvantaged students
title_full_unstemmed An Australian study of graduate outcomes for disadvantaged students
title_short An Australian study of graduate outcomes for disadvantaged students
title_sort australian study of graduate outcomes for disadvantaged students
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/55543