ALL university students and staff will be required to learn about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture under proposals to be considered by the Federal Government.
As part of the strategy, it will be compulsory for all staff, including bureaucrats and teachers, to undertake the course.
Last Thursday the Indigenous Higher Education Advisory Council endorsed recommendations which included the courses, setting participation targets and mandatory representation on university executives and other decision-making structures. The council is the main adviser to the Minister for Education, Julia Gillard.
Ms Gillard recently set a target for 20 per cent of undergraduate enrolments in higher education to be from low socio-economic backgrounds. No targets have yet been set for indigenous participation. She named the council as the main body to work with the Government to improve Aboriginal access and retention.
The council chairman, Roger Thomas, said it had been disappointed with the Bradley review into higher education which contained only one recommendation on indigenous students. Ms Gillard's support had re-energised Aborigines working in higher education.
The main goals were access and retention and addressing individual or institutional racism.
The president of the Australian Liberal Students Federation, Byron Hodkinson, said: "Compulsory education on Aboriginal culture is something you would expect at primary school not university.
"I would be quite concerned of the financial burdens this would impose on all students."
