As Aboriginal people working within the university we have the ability to empower Indigenous peoples. Problems of poverty, racism, poor health and suicides are the lived realities of our people and will continue. These are the reasons to write, teach and research, to make scholarship useful to do otherwise ‘is self-serving and purposeful only to the academic who needs a job, promotions and book contracts’. (Devon Abbot Mihesuah, 2004.p.xi.)

Do we need to Indigenise universities to empower our people? Education attainment levels for Indigenous students constantly fall below the standard for the population of Australia as a whole, and the number of Indigenous students going on to university continues to be low.

However the biggest gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous Australians is the knowledge gap. Australia cannot close this gap until non-Indigenous Australians increase their understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and develop the skills to become culturally competent at a personal and professional level.

Will Indigenising our universities help us to achieve this?

What does Indigenising the academy mean?

This session will include an exploration of models to provide a current snap shot of practice with a case study focus on the University of Tasmania.