About
The Challenge
In 2009 Australian Government made a commitment to increase the proportion of:
- 25–34 year-old Australian residents who possess a university qualification (from 29 per cent in 2006 to 40 per cent in 2025); and
- students from low socio economic backgrounds participating in higher education from 15 per cent to 20 per cent by the year 2020
While the Sydney Basin accounts for at least 23% of 20-34 year olds and 21% of the population nationally, only 15.9% of current university students from low socio economic communities come from this region.
Our Initiative
In 2011 the Commonwealth Government awarded Bridges to Higher Education $21.2 million in funding to December 2014 through the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program (HEPPP).
Bridges to Higher Education (Bridges) is the largest HEPPP funded program in Australia.
Bridges is a partnership of five Sydney universities working with schools and communities to improve the participation of students from disadvantaged communities in higher education.
The initiative aims to engage students through learning opportunities and other activities that support academic outcomes and excite them about the possibilities of higher education. Bridges aims to equip students, their families, school staff and community groups with tools and information so school leavers and others can make informed decisions about their future.
The Bridges collaboration brings together the collective resources and significant experience of UWS, Sydney University, UTS, Macquarie and ACU.
The aim is to provide a more comprehensive and better coordinated engagement strategy to increase the pool of people from underrepresented groups who aspire to and successfully participate in higher education.
The Bridges Partner Universities recognise that individual universities working alone cannot provide the breadth and depth of programs that research shows is required to assist both schools and communities.
Bridges to Higher Education works closely with over 30 established organisations and service providers and more than 100 primary and high schools.
Our objectives are to:
- Improve academic outcomes
- Raise educational aspiration and engagement
- Build teacher and community capacity
- Increase capacity to access higher education
Our origins go back to 2009, when the Sydney Widening Participation in Higher Education Forum was formed with six universities: the University of Sydney, University of New South Wales, Macquarie University, Australian Catholic University, the University of Western Sydney and the University of Technology Sydney.
These six universities believed collaboration was essential to reach the target for participation in higher education that was set in the 2008 Report on Australian Higher Education (Bradley Report). That target is for 20 per cent of undergraduate enrolments in higher education to come from LSES backgrounds by the year 2020.
A workshop in February 2010 to discuss needs and priorities in widening participation. That workshop led to our first project, to develop resources for parents, and laid the foundations for Bridges to Higher Education.