The Major Challenge

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students constitute a very small cohort of students who go on to participate in STEM disciplines in university settings. The challenges in increasingly higher numbers of students in university-level studies have been the level of achievements in the school system in core disciplines like Math and Science.

According to federal government sources, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students performance in STEM education has been languishing for some years. For example, 68% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students were below the international standard in year 8. This compared to an average of 34% of non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students being below the international standard in year 8. These gaps in STEM education have not changed in the past 20 years.

Our STEM work at the Indigenous Education and Research Centre is to help surmount these challenges.