First Peoples' perspectives on successful engagement at university: What keeps students coming back to Indigenous education units?

Abstract

In this article, we present a case study of the nature of First Peoples’ engagement with the GUMURRII Student Success Unit at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. Higher education plays a critical role in improving socioeconomic outcomes in First Peoples communities. Recent reports indicate First Peoples are still under-represented at university, with lower participation and higher attrition rates than non-Indigenous students. Previous studies indicate that engagement with Indigenous education units (IEU) improves student progression, retention and success; however, the specific nature of engagement with IEUs from the students’ perspectives has not been widely examined. We address a gap within the literature, seeking to better understand how support services are being contemporarily utilised by First Peoples students. By utilising an Indigenist research design, we offer an interpretation of the lived experiences of First Peoples students to better understand their reasons for engagement with IEUs, and to explore the impact upon their ongoing participation and outcomes in higher education. The findings contribute to broader understandings of the role of IEUs in higher education and illustrate that students engage with them for reasons that extend far beyond traditional tertiary support.