Australian universities lavish hundreds of?millions of dollars on?¡°marginalised¡± equity programmes with little attempt to?gauge their effectiveness, according to?the head of a?rebadged ¡°what works¡± centre for higher education inclusiveness.

Shamit Saggar said the research skills that most vice-chancellors had developed early in?their academic careers were rarely deployed to?evaluate the equity programmes they oversaw. ¡°They don¡¯t know necessarily whether they¡¯re working or?why, and therefore, they don¡¯t know what the remedial issues could?be,¡± he?said.

¡°The universities¡­have all struggled to get these programmes taken seriously by the dean of engineering [or]?law. They tend to be a bit siloed and marginalised. [Equity] slips between the cracks.¡±

In mid-2023, the British-raised political scientist, who was a strategy adviser to former UK prime minister Sir Tony Blair, assumed leadership of the National Centre for Student Equity in ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ (NCSEHE), based at Curtin University. He has now overseen its rebirth as the Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success (Acses), an outcome of a A$20.5?million (?10.6?million) funding injection unveiled by the education minister, Jason Clare, in mid-2022.

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Professor Saggar has modelled the body on the UK¡¯s 11?¡°What Works¡± centres. ¡°We don¡¯t want to just sit around analysing all day, interesting though that would?be.¡± With equity now firmly established as a core business by the Universities Accord review, he?said, institutional leaders could no?longer treat it as someone¡¯s ¡°special interest¡±.

A considerable body of knowledge has already been assembled through NCSEHE¡¯s work and other research undertaken in ¡°splendid isolation¡±, he said. Insights can also be drawn from studies into disadvantage in areas such as health, transport, housing and schooling.

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¡°We¡¯ve got all this stuff, and our job is to share?it,¡± Professor Saggar said. ¡°I¡¯m wandering around Australia with a?silver tray [saying]: ¡®Here¡¯s good stuff that you can use; this is tailored around your university as far as possible. I?don¡¯t really care what you pick as long as you pick something.¡¯

¡°The universities are doing the best that they can so far with the resources, financial and non-financial, but it hasn¡¯t necessarily worked. The minister is saying¡­he would like better equity outcomes. We¡¯re getting started on the job of how that might happen. We¡¯re here at the disposal of 39 universities.¡±

The centre is rolling out about a dozen randomised controlled trials testing the effectiveness of interventions to foster engagement with learning platforms, for example, or to encourage students to submit assignments. ¡°They¡¯re about testing a specific proposition,¡± Professor Saggar said. ¡°We¡¯re quite relaxed on what those propositions are, as long as there¡¯s scalability.¡±

Acses is funding new research and evaluating institutional approaches to things such as pastoral care, outreach days and career education for refugees.

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It is also focusing on untangling universities¡¯ ¡°inconsistent¡± equity data. ¡°They don¡¯t share it with themselves very well, [and] they tend to count different things. Everyone could do it 20?per cent better, and our job is to facilitate that,¡± Professor Saggar said.

Professor Saggar said he also planned to address a surprising paucity of international research into how leadership attributes affect universities¡¯ equity outcomes.

¡°If you¡¯re looking at which firms succeed more than others, you wouldn¡¯t leave out the senior management,¡± he?said. ¡°It¡¯s the first thing you¡¯d be looking?at. So why would you leave out the senior management of universities as a factor that determines the equity lens?¡±

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com