The program’s success lies with harnessing the different contributions made by all partners including: Anglicare Victoria providing funding and staff to develop, coordinate and implement programs in the Grampians area, heavily subsiding the costs for secondary students to attend. FedUni’s RSOP and ACU supplying trained university ambassadors and volunteer staff to act as positive role models and to share their experiences of how they overcame some of the perceived and actual barriers that initially held them back from accessing university during their secondary education. Teaching staff of the participating secondary schools, with a primary role of selecting and encouraging students who had the capability to complete both secondary and tertiary studies but lacked the self-belief in their ability to do so or felt it was unattainable due to financial hardship. Local community groups such as the Ararat Lions Club have consistently volunteered their time to assist and support all participants of the trek to maximise their experience. Future Activities Anglicare Victoria, FedUni’s RSOP and ACU aim to provide more experiences for secondary students through providing the program to more secondary school Hike to Higher Education students within the Grampians region in 2015. The goal is to further increase the presence of higher education within the community and to continue to raise students’ aspiration to successfully complete Year 12. While positive outcomes and achievements for students from the Grampians region have increased in recent years, there is still a need to continue delivering these programs and experiences. opportunity to work and talk to uni students was very helpful to help me decide what I “The would like to study at uni.” secondary student. – Flinders uniTEST Flinders University ACER Inter-sectoral Flinders uniTEST aims to provide greater access to university for students who would not otherwise be selected on the basis of Year 12 performance alone. Description uniTEST is an aptitude test designed to assess students’ abilities and aptitude over the three core areas of quantitative, critical and verbal/plausible reasoning that underpin studies at university and are needed to be successful. Flinders University partners with secondary schools in the delivery of uniTEST, enabling greater opportunity to participate in higher education. Flinders uniTEST focuses primarily on the education and access needs of students from LSES and regional/rural backgrounds.
The program’s success lies with harnessing the different contributions made by all partners including: Anglicare Victoria providing funding and staff to develop, coordinate and implement programs in the Grampians area, heavily subsiding the costs for secondary students to attend. FedUni’s RSOP and ACU supplying trained university ambassadors and volunteer staff to act as positive role models and to share their experiences of how they overcame some of the perceived and actual barriers that initially held them back from accessing university during their secondary education. Teaching staff of the participating secondary schools, with a primary role of selecting and encouraging students who had the capability to complete both secondary and tertiary studies but lacked the self-belief in their ability to do so or felt it was unattainable due to financial hardship. Local community groups such as the Ararat Lions Club have consistently volunteered their time to assist and support all participants of the trek to maximise their experience. Future Activities Anglicare Victoria, FedUni’s RSOP and ACU aim to provide more experiences for secondary students through providing the Hike to Higher Education program to more secondary school students within the Grampians region in 2015. The goal is to further increase the presence of higher education within the community and to continue to raise students’ aspiration to successfully complete Year 12. While positive outcomes and achievements for students from the Grampians region have increased in recent years, there is still a need to continue delivering these programs and experiences. “The opportunity to work and talk to uni students was very helpful to help me decide what I would like to study at uni.” – secondary student. Flinders uniTEST Flinders University ACER Inter-sectoral Flinders uniTEST aims to provide greater access to university for students who would not otherwise be selected on the basis of Year 12 performance alone. Description uniTEST is an aptitude test designed to assess students’ abilities and aptitude over the three core areas of quantitative, critical and verbal/plausible reasoning that underpin studies at university and are needed to be successful. Flinders University partners with secondary schools in the delivery of uniTEST, enabling greater opportunity to participate in higher education. Flinders uniTEST focuses primarily on the education and access needs of students from LSES and regional/rural backgrounds.