Dreaming big

Motivation muster ... PolyVision attendee, Bundamba State Secondary College student, Christina Siu
Motivation muster ... PolyVision attendee, Bundamba State Secondary College student, Christina Siu

A program stemming from UQ research is inspiring Pacific Islander students to follow their dreams.

Pacific Islander students were encouraged to “dream big dreams” at the inaugural PolyVision: Pacific Youth of Tomorrow event hosted by the UQ Boilerhouse Community Engagement Centre at UQ Ipswich in July.

The event targeted Pacific Islander high school students in the Inala to Ipswich corridor, seeking to inspire them to broaden their horizons and consider higher education.

PolyVision represented one of a number of outcomes of an 18-month research project undertaken by the UQ Boilerhouse Community Engagement Centre.

The equity project was designed using a reflective, collaborative process with local Samoan and Tongan communities, to identify and address issues impacting on higher education access for young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

“The idea of working directly with communities to increase access to higher education among under-represented groups is relatively new in Australia as outreach has traditionally focused on university–school partnerships,” said key researcher, Sue Scull. 

 “The importance of such relationships, however, has been highlighted in the international literature, for example in the United Kingdom, as part of widening participation policy.”

She said the research had since led to an Australian Research Council Linkage grant proposal to develop a framework of engaged outreach, which could be used by universities across Australia to address higher education access among people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

“The key to the success of the project was the fact that it was action research – the communities we worked with saw tangible outcomes such as PolyVision emerge from their involvement,” Ms Scull said.

“It has also been significant in establishing a strong foundation for further work between UQ and Pacific Islander communities.”

Initial research revealed that in recent years, numbers of Pacific Islander students entering university or TAFE had not reflected the growth in the population.

“Pacific Islander students face all of the challenges which go hand-in-hand with coming from a lower socio-economic background,” said Savali Harvey, UQ’s Pacific Island Project Officer responsible for coordinating PolyVision. “The result is that too many Pacific Islander people go to work in factories or administration.

“Not many consider professional or technical careers or working in the arts.

 “We want them to know that they have options and that education is the key that opens up your options.”

PolyVision was attended by 50 Pacific Islander students from local high schools, 10 Pacific Islander mentors, 10 community elders and staff from the University of Auckland who assisted in the running of the program.

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