Submission to the review of Australian higher education

The paper takes as its starting point the observation in the discussion paper that higher education can enhance social inclusion and reduce social and economic disadvantage by deepening our understanding of health and social issues and by providing access to higher levels of learning to people from all backgrounds (Commonwealth of Australia, 2008b: 1). The paper argues that the current Australian policy on equity in higher education, which is based on A fair chance for all (DEET, 1990), continues to be important for national policy, evaluation and intervention. However, it has gaps and limitations when applied to institutions and their regions. While higher education has hardly featured in social inclusion policy in Australia or overseas, social inclusion offers a useful framework for structuring and evaluating institutions’ contribution to equity.