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This paper reports on Indigenous early career researchers' experiences of mentoring in Australian higher education, with data drawn from a longitudinal qualitative study. Interviews were conducted with 30 Indigenous participants. A consistent theme in the findings and contemporary critical literature has been a reaction against institutionalised and hierarchical cloning and investment models of mentoring that reinforce the accumulation of White cultural capital, in favour of strength-based relational models tailored to build Indigenous cultural wealth in parallel with career development. We write from an equity-based standpoint addressing mentoring as a complex and raced space where individual Indigenous ECRs articulate a desire and will to develop a successful and meaningful career, rich in cultural wealth and with their identity intact. It is our intent that these findings will also have global significance and support the more sustainable and ethical career development of First Nation early career academics in relationally like colonised contexts.

This paper provides a snapshot of Indigenous Early Career Researchers in Australia derived from demographic information collected in the first stage of the 'Developing Indigenous Early Career Researchers' project. Analysis of the data to date has evidenced much diversity across this cohort. However, one commonality across all Indigenous Early Career Researchers was a commitment to the value and validity of Indigenous Ways of Knowing in the higher education sector. With the use of Tribal Critical Race Theory this paper explores the ways in which Indigenous Early Career Researchers disrupt Western-based academies and schools of thought and proposes that Indigenous Early Carer Researchers grow 'pearls' of experience and knowledge within the higher education sector that are essential to the development of a richer academy and stronger Indigenous communities.

Due to their Indigeneity, Indigenous early career researchers are positioned differently and therefore experience the higher education sector differently to their non-Indigenous peers. Such positioning significantly impacts the development and progression of Indigenous academic research career trajectories. This article reports from the first stage of a three-year longitudinal study to examine the self-identified support needs of Indigenous early career researchers. The findings offer six factors that are crucial in supporting Indigenous early career researchers to develop and establish sound research careers within the academy. This article engages Indigenous standpoints related to the cultural interface and Indigenist research, with a view to shaping institutional responses to supporting Indigenous research career trajectories and further to recognise Indigenous Knowledges as integral to building global academies of teaching, learning and research.

Data from the "Developing Indigenous Early Career Researchers" (ECRs) project reported that efforts of Indigenous ECRs are often undermined by examples of micro-racism. Shared personal experiences revealed racist attitudes and assumptions held by some non-Indigenous academics. This draws critical attention to the fact that while many institutions have developed Indigenous strategies to address disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff and student's, racism is prevelant in higher education institutions across Australia. In this study, Indigenous ECRs metaphorically described their presence in the academy as unicorns, cash cows or performing monkeys. These terms illustrate the way in which Indigenous ECR attendance in the Australian higher education sector has been viewed, devalued and/or undermined by non-Indigenous academics and the institutions in which they are employed. Specifically, the notion of behavioural racism is used to critique the level of engagement and commitment of non-Indigenous academics to the inclusion of Indigenous knowledges and worldviews.

Despite extensive impact studies over the past two decades documenting the insipid and debilitating health, social, and emotional impacts of racism on Indigenous peoples in Australia, racism remains a key factor impacting negatively on the lives of Indigenous Australians at all levels of education. Racism experienced by Indigenous early career researchers is much-neglected area of research to date: the aim of this paper is to force a conversation about the prevalence of institutional racism in the higher education sector through an examination of the impact of racism on the experiences and career trajectories of Indigenous early career researchers in Australian universities. We challenge the day-to-day perceptions of normalcy where the Whiteness of the institution goes unnoticed and make clear that claiming ignorance does not absolve the individual or the institution of accountability. Although grounded in Australian experiences of institutional racism in higher education, the study has global significance to other relationally-like colonised nations. International literature highlights racism is imbricated across the Pan-Pacific nations; this is laid bared by the recounting of Australian Indigenous experiences and perceptions.

Despite increasing representation in higher education, Maori leaders are still seeking to overcome historical inequities and racial discrimination. This study investigates the circumstances of Maori leadership in higher education from a strength-based standpoint, highlighting the critical role Maori academics fulfil in senior leadership positions in Aotearoa/New Zealand universities by exploring Maori perceptions of the scope, influence and challenges of their senior leadership roles. These perceptions are described by five participants in the study and supported by literature predominantly authored by Maori academics. The qualitative study is underpinned by Political Race Theory, linking race and power at the individual level as well as at the institutional level. Findings give voice to senior leaders' answers to the critical question: how can Indigenous leadership secure sustainable, transformative change in Aotearoa/New Zealand universities. The response to this question is underscored by the notion of shifting leadership positioning from the back-foot reactive politics to a front-foot status of strategic and transformative leadership. Reporting on Stage Five of an Australian project -- "Walan Mayiny: Indigenous Leadership in Higher Education," this study is the second in a series of three international case studies investigating Indigenous leadership in higher education.

Despite increasing calls for systemic change in the Canadian higher education sector, Indigenous leaders continue to be under-represented, under-funded, and overworked. This qualitative study investigates the purview of senior Indigenous leaders within Canadian higher education, drawing on interviews conducted with four senior Indigenous leaders at Canadian universities. The study, underpinned by emancipatory Indigenist research, draws on the literature predominantly written by Canadian Indigenous scholars. Reporting on Stage Five of a qualitative Australian project -- "Walan Mayiny: Indigenous Leadership in Higher Education," this paper is the first of four international aspects of the larger project. Findings suggest these Indigenous senior leaders overcome significant barriers to gain senior roles, while the weight of systemic change is carried by individual Indigenous leaders. The question addressed is how senior Indigenous leaders can unsettle systemic barriers so that universities are facing in the direction of where they need to be going, and not where they've been.

Higher education has existed in Australia for 170 years, yet Indigenous Australians have participated for only half a century. One key change the Australian higher education sector has witnessed over the last decade is the steady increase of people occupying senior Indigenous leadership roles. These positions are indeed relatively new and have not been empirically investigated until now. Reporting on findings from an Australian Research Council funded study on Indigenous leadership in higher education, this paper highlights some of the discrepancies in how the skills of Indigenous leaders are interpreted by the academy, with a hope to challenge the sector's next senior non-identified appointments to ensure that Indigenous people become integral architects in designing the future Australian higher education sector.

An increasing number of Australian universities are committing to Indigenous Graduate Attributes across a wide range of academic disciplines. This paper critiques not only the slow up-take of Indigenous Graduate Attributes in the last 10 years, but also how such attributes may realistically contribute to university students graduating with increased 'awareness', 'knowledges' and 'abilities' to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities. It is reasoned that any commitment to Indigenous Graduate Attributes must be carefully and critically monitored for the silencing effects of colonial narratives that also are prevalent throughout Australian Indigenous Studies (which is arguably the foundation of realising Indigenous Graduate Attributes). Drawing from a diversity of Indigenous standpoint theories, critical studies and research methodologies, the paper offers a critical evaluative framework through which both Indigenous Graduate Attributes and the content within the teaching and learning of Australian Indigenous Studies may be evaluated. This includes an acute awareness of imposed colonial narratives, a critical awareness of one's own positioning, engagement with Indigenous voices, knowledge of Indigenous Research Methodologies, and more meaningful levels of Indigenous engagement through Indigenous ethics and protocols.

There is clear evidence that Indigenous education has changed considerably over time. Indigenous Australians' early experiences of 'colonialised education' included missionary schools, segregated and mixed public schooling, total exclusion and 'modified curriculum' specifically for Indigenous students which focused on teaching manual labour skills (as opposed to literacy and numeracy skills). The historical inequalities left a legacy of educational disparity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Following activist movements in the 1960s, the Commonwealth Government initiated a number of reviews and forged new policy directions with the aim of achieving parity of participation and outcomes in higher education between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Further reviews in the 1980s through to the new millennium produced recommendations specifically calling for Indigenous Australians to be given equality of access to higher education; for Indigenous Australians to be employed in higher education settings; and to be included in decisions regarding higher education. This paper aims to examine the evolution of Indigenous leaders in higher education from the period when we entered the space through to now. In doing so, it will examine the key documents to explore how the landscape has changed over time, eventually leading to a number of formal reviews, culminating in the "Universities Australia 2017-2020 Indigenous Strategy" (Universities Australia, 2017).

In 2017 Universities Australia initiated their "Indigenous Strategy 2017-2020" which outlined a clear commitment for each university to appoint at least one Indigenous person to a senior executive role. Many universities are yet to realise this promise. In some cases, it is a situation of nil intent to do so, while others have an underlying desire to adhere to their commitment but with minimal success. Drawing on a larger study of Indigenous leadership in higher education, this paper focuses on the experiences of three recruiters who have been responsible for recruiting a senior Indigenous appointment. It provides an understanding of cultural complexities, recruitment barriers and key strategies which the sector can incorporate into their business activities to secure the best person for such positions. Notably, this paper argues there is no template for such positions and they are usually diverse in terms of their responsibilities and strategic outcomes.

In 1991, the Australian Government released the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Report. Of the 339 recommendations, "Recommendation 62" identified that there was an alarming over-representation of Indigenous youth in contact with the criminal justice system. The report called for immediate action by governments to develop strategies that would urgently reduce retention rates of Indigenous youth within the prison system. Analysis of the literature indicates that almost three decades after the release of this report, the high numbers of Indigenous youth who are incarcerated, or who have come into contact with the juvenile justice system remains the same. Although there is a good deal of literature investigating the criminological characteristics of this phenomena; there is a substantial gap in the literature surrounding the educational exclusion of young Indigenous males from the formal education system. This paper focusses specifically on the literature surrounding student exclusion from state schools and how this may provide some insight into the subsequent over-representation of young Indigenous males within the Queensland juvenile justice system.

Whilst Indigenous Graduate Attributes -- or the embedding Indigenous cultural competencies within broad graduate attributes -- are becoming increasingly popular within some universities, it is essential that universities be held accountable for the realisation of such policies. Considering that Australian Indigenous Studies -- an essential component of Indigenous Graduate Attributes -- is a highly contested space where colonial and Indigenous knowledges collide, this article presents evidence from analyses, engaging with Indigenous Standpoints, aimed at evaluating critically the degree to which university subjects may contribute to the realisation of Indigenous Graduate Attributes. Results identify not only an array of psychometrically sound factors which measure "Student Knowledges and Attitudes to Indigenous Issues" as well as "Applied Indigenous Learning," but also indicate that the embedding of Australian Indigenous Studies content may vary across disciplines. In addition, results show that the impact of such embedding on student attitudes also varies greatly according to discipline, with positive, negative, and contradicting results across disciplines. These findings strongly suggest that any commitment to embedding Indigenous Graduate Attributes must be monitored very carefully.

Globally, rapid technological advancement is creating widespread concern about workforces of the future, and universities are expected to produce highly skilled graduates to meet the unremitting demands of knowledge economies. In this context, graduate attributes are a means for developing employability skills and an avenue for institutions to demonstrate to employers and potential graduates that the requisite skills will be developed during a degree. To meet these needs, graduate attributes tend to emphasise a range of generic abilities such as team work, communicating effectively, or critical thinking. While these soft skills are common in suites of graduate attributes, more recently, a next generation of attributes is emerging. The curriculum has now become a site for critical global issues such as sustainability. Also, globalisation is driving universities to foster graduates' intercultural and international skills, reflecting a diversifying and internationalised workforce. In Australian universities, and those in other colonised nations such as Canada and New Zealand, there is a growing emphasis on ensuring that graduates engage with Indigenous content and develop the capacity to work effectively with and for Indigenous peoples to address inequities and promote social justice. Using a case example from an Australian university curriculum project, we describe a degree framework developed to guide the institution wide implementation of Indigenous graduate attributes. Although the case context is quite specific, the guiding principles have widespread relevance for embedding graduate attributes into university curricula.

In 2017 Universities Australia (UA), the peak body representing Australian universities released its "Indigenous Strategy 2017-2020." The document unites universities together in common goals for Indigenous achievement, filling a notable gap in the Australian higher education landscape. The "Strategy" outlines a comprehensive plan for enhanced Indigenous outcomes in critical areas of higher education including student access and success, graduate research, and community engagement. This paper focuses on the implementation of Indigenous curriculum for all Australian university graduates which is a key aspect of the "Strategy." The changing Indigenous higher education landscape invites the nuanced analysis that critical examination of universities, as organisations, might elicit. Drawing on de Certeau's notion of tactics and strategies, the paper examines the policy and cultural climate of an Australian university which supports an Indigenous Graduate Attribute curriculum project.

Cinema is an art form widely recognised as an agent to change the social condition and alter traditional norms. Movies can be used to educate and transform society's collective conscience. Indigenous Australian artists utilise the power of artistic expression as a tool to initiate change in the attitudes and perceptions of the broader Australian society. Australia's story has predominately been told from the coloniser's viewpoint. This narrative is being rewritten through Indigenous artists utilising the power of cinema to create compelling stories with Indigenous control. This medium has come into prominence for Indigenous Australians to express our culture, ontology and politics. Movies such as "Samson and Delilah", "Bran Nue Dae", "The Sapphires" and "Rabbit-Proof Fence" for example, have highlighted the injustices of past policies, adding new dimensions to the Australian narrative. These three films are just a few of the Indigenous Australian produced films being used in the Australian National Curriculum. Through this medium, Australian Indigenous voices are rewriting the Australian narrative from the Indigenous perspective, deconstructing the predominant stereotypical perceptions of Indigenous culture and reframing the Australian story. Films are essential educational tools to cross the cultural space that often separates Indigenous learners from their non-Indigenous counterparts.

This article engages with an Indigenous Quantitative Methodological Framework to examine links between a positive sense of cultural identity, future aspirations, and academic motivational tendencies. Utilising a sample of Aboriginal, non-Aboriginal and First Generation (Migrant) Australian students in years 7-10, results showed strong psychometric properties across the three groups for the measures utilised. Whilst few differences were identified between the First Generation and non-Aboriginal Australian students, Aboriginal students consistently had lower future aspirations and less adaptive motivational tendencies than the two other student groups. Importantly though, Aboriginal students held a stronger sense of cultural identity. Key links between motivation and cultural identity were identified, and both were associated with stronger educational and life aspirations. The implications suggest that researchers and teachers need to recognise the importance of cultural identity as a positive driver for schooling motivation and future aspirations, and that First Nations theory and research should be engaged to override the erasing effects of Western epistemological standpoints when utilising statistical methods.

Indigenous Australians represent 2.2% of the working age population, yet account for only 1.4% of all university enrolments. In relation to higher degree research students, Indigenous Australians account for 1.1% of enrolments, but only 0.8% of all higher degree research completions. This paper reports on findings that emerged from an Australian Research Council-funded study which aimed to establish a model of best practice for the supervision of Indigenous doctoral students. The project identified the dissertation examination as one of the critical factors underpinning the success of doctoral candidates. Whilst research into the examination process for doctoral students is limited, the research that specifically explores the examination of dissertations submitted by Indigenous students is entirely inadequate. Our research identified key epistemological concerns that impact approaches to the examination process, to demonstrate how the dominance of Western methods of research impact the examination process for Indigenous doctoral students. This paper explores the experiences of 50 successful Indigenous Australian doctors with a specific focus on their examiner preference and disciplinary requirements. It highlights the limitations that some Indigenous students and their supervisors experience in finding an appropriate examiner.

Drawing on demographic data collected from interviews with 50 Indigenous Australians with a doctoral qualification and 33 of their supervisors, this paper provides the first detailed picture of Indigenous doctoral education in Australia, with the focus on study modes, age of candidates, completion times and employment. It also analyses data produced through interviews with supervisors including age, employment levels and academic background. The study confronts a number of common perceptions in the higher education sector, to find that many Indigenous Australians are awarded their doctoral qualification in the middle stages of their career. This particular cohort is more likely to be studying in the arts and humanities, employed in higher education and enrolled on a full-time basis. This Australian Research Council (ARC) funded research provides new and important data to inform government policy, and to allow universities to implement strategies and recommendations arising from the Behrendt Report of 2012.

The number of Indigenous Australians completing doctoral qualifications is disparately below their non-Indigenous contemporaries. Whilst there has been a steady increase in Indigenous completions in recent years, significant work remains to redress the imbalance. Supervision has been identified as a primary influencer of the likely success of Indigenous doctoral students, yet very little research has been undertaken in this area. This paper examines the experiences of 11 Indigenous Australians who hold a doctoral qualification. It also provides the experiences of five non-Indigenous supervisors who were an integral part of the supervision team of one of the successful doctoral graduates. A best-practice framework for supervision is offered as a guide for how supervisors, universities and national bodies can contribute to building the number of doctoral qualified Indigenous Australians.

This paper presents the findings from semi-structured interviews with six Indigenous Australian early childhood workers who were asked about how Indigenous families might be better supported to engage with early childhood education and care services. The workers identified three key barriers to family participation: transport difficulties, family embarrassment or "shame", and community division. Facilitation of family engagement was argued to require an acceptance of individual families as well as the embracing of culture and the wider Indigenous community. In addition, the interviewees stressed the importance of ongoing and appropriate training and support for Indigenous early childhood professionals. This paper contributes to the growing body of research to inform practice in early childhood settings that serve families with complex support needs, and highlights the importance of cultural knowledge and respect. (Contains 5 footnotes.)

Supervision is arguably one of the most important support mechanisms provided to higher degree research students. Research into the role of supervision is emerging, with many scholars arguing the importance of establishing a connection between the supervisor and the student. However, problems can emerge when this relationship is overlaid with cultural differences and the supervisor has little knowledge of the student's cultural positioning. This paper will draw on findings of a doctoral research inquiry to explore the supervision provided to Indigenous Australian postgraduate students. Recommendations for change will be offered in the course of the discussion. (Contains 1 figure.)

Indigenous participation rates in higher education are significantly lower than the rates reported for non-Indigenous people in Australia--with the greatest disparity evident in the area of postgraduate studies. This problem needs to be addressed by providing culturally appropriate support mechanisms to Indigenous postgraduate students. This article draws on the findings of a doctoral thesis in which the support provided to Indigenous postgraduate students in Australia was investigated (Trudgett, 2008). Several issues and problems emerged from the data surrounding the support, or lack thereof, provided to this cohort by the Indigenous Units or centres in universities today. Nine recommendations for consideration and implementation by the Indigenous Units within Australian universities are provided. These recommendations have the potential to reduce this disparity by helping to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous participation and, most importantly, completion rates in postgraduate studies. (Contains 3 figures.)