Equity and Student Support: A Peer Mentoring Program at the University of South Australia

Abstract

In the context of diminishing resources involving staff cuts and budget restrictions, all universities are faced with increasing demands upon their support services. DEETYA requires universities to report upon progress made toward improved access and success of identified equity target groups and this inevitably leads to an increase in the number of students entering university who require significant support if they are to be successful. Support Services are already stretched to the limit so how are they to meet this ongoing challenge? Students from low socio- economic status backgrounds and students from rural and isolated areas are two equity groups which have made little progress in terms of access, participation and outcomes in higher education across Australia. The University of South Australia targets these groups through a scheme called USANET in an attempt to improve the access, and success rates of these students. This paper will discuss how these students are identified, the barriers they face, how this translates into needs that support services can address, and the strategies that are being used to support these students. One of these strategies, the peer mentoring system, will be described in more detail: how it was started, how it works, how it is being mainstreamed and the role of the support services in this process.