Making university better for everyone, including Indigenous peoples

Professor Asmi Wood has built a long list of accomplishments. But he sees each one as something that could only occur with community and support.

As the first Indigenous professor at ANU to reach the highest levels of academic ranking – Distinguished Professor – he is quick to draw attention to those that supported him.

“I didn’t get any award on my own.” he says.

“I was recognised because I’m an academic, but I’m standing on the shoulders of all these people who enable us to excel.”

Invisible barriers

Wood’s research covers both the constitutional recognition of Indigenous people in Australia and Indigenous participation in higher education.  

His research and teaching interests include the experiences and treatment of Indigenous people within legal frameworks other than their own.

But while his list of achievements is extensive, his work serves as a reminder of how much needs to happen to make universities culturally safe places for everyone, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.  

According to the Productivity Commission, 26 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students who commenced a bachelor degree in 2022 did not return the following year. This includes people who deferred and returned later to part- or full-time study, as well as those who never returned at all.

Improving educational outcomes

Shifting the way that traditional curricula is taught is one essential step in improving educational outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students alike.

Wood’s approach to teaching law aims to be inclusive of students of all backgrounds, which saw him win the 2015 Neville Bonner Award for Indigenous Education.

During this time, he worked closely with the ANU Tjabal Centre through the ANU Indigenous Law Program, which saw Indigenous graduation rates rise to around 90 per cent.

The Tjabal Centre, which supports Indigenous students at the ANU, has a retention and completion rate of about 95 per cent – higher than the University’s mainstream retention and completion rates.

Wood says that to help society reconcile with its past, there needs to be a normalisation of Indigenous cultures and ways of being. In practice, this would look like students understanding the Indigenous cultures on which their universities stand.

There must be an understanding that bridging cultural gaps and making spaces where Indigenous cultures are the norm are a broader societal responsibility, he says, not just a responsibility for Indigenous communities.

“People often treat Indigenous communities as if they were one homogeneous community. The reality is much more complex” he adds.

“Aboriginal multiculturalism is the interaction of hundreds of different distinct cultures working together. Homogenisation of Aboriginal society prevents Australia from recognising this basic paradigm.”

Making space

Wood credits the Tjabal Centre as one existing area of support to Indigenous academics and students on campus at ANU. He also points to scholarships, including the Kambri Scholars program, as providing greater access to higher education.

“Having a place like Tjabal creates that supports students and staff enables Aboriginal students and staff to excel in this world-class university, something that might otherwise be harder to achieve.”

He adds that an Indigenous cultural centre not only provides support, but shifts the nature of the conversation with university leadership to ensure problems related to difference are effectively dealt with in the most constructive way.

Ultimately, Wood is seeking a campus that supports all students to benefit from a broad university experience, and staff to lead research that benefits society as well as our students.

“What’s important is that there are enough safe spaces that work for different people,” he says.

“These spaces can help people feel comfortable at a university, which can at times appear to be solely focused on academic excellence at the expense of other human needs.

“That’s what universities are about: allowing people to flourish.”