Director’s Report Professor Sarah O'Shea
Throughout 2020, the NCSEHE worked to ensure that educational equity remained foregrounded across higher education policy, practice and research. As evidenced here in our seventh Annual Report, the Centre not only provided a strong networking function between student equity policymakers, researchers and practitioners but also quickly adapted to a changing and volatile higher education environment. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic created new and pressing challenges for student equity in Australian higher education. The NCSEHE responded swiftly and strategically to the COVID-19 crisis: • Within two weeks of university closures (March 2020), the NCSEHE had built an online portal for distributing COVID-19 related resources. • By the third week of closures (early April 2020), the NCSEHE had planned strategic webinars and, over 2020 produced five COVID-19 specific webinars, totalling over 2,000 registrants. • Within a month post-closure, the NCSEHE had provided both a government-commissioned report on the impact of home learning on vulnerable students and commenced a national research grant program which included a COVID-19 focus. The Centre worked creatively and collaboratively to ensure the core mission continued to be met; namely, to improve the participation and success in higher education for marginalised and disadvantaged people. Meeting this objective was achieved through the key priorities of the NCSEHE which include strengthening Australia’s student equity in higher education research quality, capability and capacity; supporting the building of a robust evidence base; informing institutional best practice and enhancing on-the-ground delivery of equity measures; and informing evidence-based public policy design and implementation. Despite disruptions caused by border closures, remote working conditions, university shutdowns and ongoing uncertainty within the sector, the Centre managed and led research projects; provided leadership and commentary across the nation; provided universal access to student equity data; and continued to connect and engage with stakeholders through a wide number of events and media communications. 2
Strengthening research quality, capability and capacity As detailed in the Progress Report for the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE), the Forward Research Plan, and the Director’s Reports provided to the Advisory Board, the Centre has: • continued its strong performance, meeting KPIs required to honour its contract with the Australian Government • finalised the funding of 15 external competitive research grants, as part of the NCSEHE Conditions of Grant and also successfully awarded a further 17 competitive grants committing over A$1 million (2019–21) to further intersectoral research • continued to administer a range of projects under the auspices of the Australian Government’s Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program (HEPPP)-funded National Priorities Pool, to a total value of A$6.9 million, including: ongoing management of the NCSEHE for three years (A$4.5 million), continuation of the NCSEHE Equity Fellows Program 2019–21 (A$1.5 million) and finalising a competitive grants program which funded four projects in the area of low socioeconomic status (SES) and careers (A$900,000). • maintained the NCSEHE’s visibility and brand recognition with internal and external stakeholders, including awareness of the Centre nationally and internationally • published and disseminated research findings for NCSEHE Research Fellows both on the website and in major reports • continued to provide supervision for doctoral students, and commenced recruitment of new PhD students (halted temporarily in 2020 due to COVID-19) • continued to collaborate with internal and external research staff and stakeholders. Building the evidence base and leadership capacity Throughout 2020, the Centre strove to ensure quality and timely research was conducted and that activities contributed to building capacity across the sector. The six Equity Fellows undertook research of national significance with data collection including timely
