Innovative teaching and learning methods, designed specifically to meet the needs of Indigenous students, have made UQ’s Indigenous Health Program one of the most successful health degree programs in the country.
Using problem-based learning exercises as the primary teaching method, the Bachelor of Applied Health Science (Indigenous Primary Health Care) encourages students to synthesise their existing knowledge of their own communities, culture and history with relevant primary health care knowledge and skills. A high academic staff to student ratio is maintained, and at each point in the study program students are made aware of the three-dimensional “body-spirit-land” concept that pervades Aboriginal identity.
Coordinator of the Faculty of Health Sciences’ Indigenous Health Program Dr Susan Vlack said the course was developed in close cooperation with community representatives and focussed primarily on social aspects of health, complemented by an understanding of biological health sciences.
“There is a conscious effort to explore the social dimensions of every problem. The social dimensions of Indigenous health have been neglected in the past and we aim to redress this in our teaching.”
The successful teaching methods have been reflected in numerous educational achievements and last year the Indigenous Health Program was nominated for the prestigious Australian Awards for University Teaching.
The Program has also achieved high enrolment and retention rates for Indigenous students. Over the past eight years, Indigenous enrolments in Brisbane have ranged from 60 to 90%, while the North Queensland program has achieved more than 90%. Retention rates are currently 70%, which is equivalent to the retention rates for all students in university study in Australia. (DETYA statistics for 1997 showed a national retention rate for Indigenous university students of 32%.)
“We reached a milestone this year when one of our Indigenous graduates, Chelsea Bond, was awarded a University of Queensland Medal for her high undergraduate grade point average and for gaining first class Honours,” Dr Vlack said.
Graduates from the program are in demand and all but six of the 52 graduates surveyed last were either working in the health system or pursuing further study. Seven of the eight honours graduates of the program are Indigenous and a further four Indigenous graduates are training to be doctors.
Dr Vlack said the program is also increasingly attracting postgraduate students, including Indigenous PhD candidates. Staff and higher degree students of the Program led a recent National Health and Medical Research Council workshop in Brisbane which has significantly contributed to the development of a “Roadmap for Indigenous Health Research” which is soon to be released.
“A priority is to provide opportunities for Indigenous people to conduct and control research that will inform structural change and develop better services to improve the health and well-being of the Indigenous community.”
Future developments for the Program include more use of flexible delivery to provide easier access for Indigenous students who are either remotely situated or need to fit study time around other life commitments.
“We are currently exploring innovative ways to maintain our special emphasis on group learning and active interaction between students in a flexible delivery context,” Dr Vlack said.
Media contact details: Dr Susan Vlack Tel: 3365 5552.
