Transforming Indigenous Higher Education: Privileging Culture, Identity and Self-Determination

An engaging guide for future best-practice, this book provides an illuminating account of how the innovative programs of education and research at one Centre for Aboriginal Studies made a demonstrably positive difference in the lives of Indigenous students. Written by the experts involved, the book provides detailed descriptions of these ground-breaking education and research programs that saw an increase in the number of Indigenous graduates emerging from the Centre for Aboriginal Studies at Curtin University. Each chapter documents a different stage in the development and delivery of these programs and demonstrates how innovative and culturally appropriate principles of teaching, learning and organizational processes empowered participants to make a real difference in the lives of their families and communities. The book also addresses the challenges faced by such programs and the counterproductive pressures of market-based economic policies, highlighting the need to create an environment attuned to Aboriginal desires for social justice, self-management and self-determination. As a celebration of genuine success in higher education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, and a guide on how to improve practice in the future, this book is an essential resource for all professionals and policy makers looking to make a real difference in the lives of Indigenous peoples.