Equity Categories
Low socio-economic status (SES)
For the purposes of identifying low SES as an equity target group, students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds are defined as those whose postcodes of home location fall within the lowest quartile of the population of a given catchment region determined by the value of the ABS Index of Education and Occupation.
For the purpose of identifying individuals in this category, other definitions of financial hardship may be used such as eligibility for Centrelink benefits such as Austudy/Youth Allowance. These identifiers are used in particular circumstances such as applications for scholarships.
Rural and Isolated
This is defined by the student's permanent home postcode and is identified as one of three groups ??? urban, rural or isolated. You can check your postcode here.
Students with a disability
At the time of enrolment, students are asked to indicate on the enrolment form if they have a disability. Students are also encouraged to consult a Disability Liaison Officer at any time during their course of study, if they require assistance due to a disability. All disabilities must be appropriately documented.
Gender/women studying in non-traditional areas
A non-traditional area of study for women is defined as any field of study in which the percentage of female enrolments is less than 40%. At CSU Information Technology falls into this category. At the postgraduate level, women should be in the same proportion as at undergraduate level, for each field of study. Currently DEEWR have given more scope to universities to define their own concerns with gender and disadvantage, and Equity staff would consider any proposals that could argue a link between minority gender and disadvantage in particular courses.
Non-English speaking background
NESB students are defined as those who were born overseas and arrived in Australia less than 10 years ago, and who speak a language other than English at home.
These definitions are provided by the Commonwealth Government through the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR). They were developed by Lin Martin, Equity and General Performance indicators in Higher Education, Volume 1, Equity Indicators, AGPS 1994. There are further discussions of the definitions and their measurement in: NBEET/HEC Equality, Diversity and Excellence: advancing the national higher education equity framework, AGPS 1996; and G.D. Postle et al, Towards Excellence in Diversity: educational equity in the Australian higher education sector in 1995, USQ Press, 1997.