At last week's HEDx conference in Melbourne, Michael Crow from Arizona State University shared the equity and inclusion initiatives his university has implemented to increase the number of disadvantaged student enrolments.
This was followed by an equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) panel on the feasibility of implementing these EDI strategies in Australia.
The panel included civil rights researcher and disability advocate Professor Paul Harpur, psychologist and expert on higher education equity Professor Marcia Devlin, peer mentoring app Vygo co-founder Joel di Trapani, Welcoming Universities coordinator Cate Gilpin, and university race equality advocate Mohamed Omer.
"I think we could all do more, and we could all realise the power that we have. There is no 'other'," Professor Devlin said.
"People used to come to me all the time when I was [a deputy vice-chancellor] and say, 'The university needs to do this, and the university needs to do that, and the university needs to do the other.'
"And I [would say], 'Well, who are you talking about? You are the university. I am the university.'"
Do you have an idea for a story?Email [email protected]