People from out-of-home care backgrounds are largely absent from Australian higher education equity policy. Compared with the UK, Australia has moved slowly to consider legislative and programme incentives for young people who leave state, foster or kinship care and who wish to access higher education. One major reason for the relative inaction of…

Australian and international research documents the limited access of young people transitioning from out-of-home care (OOHC) to further and higher education. This paper examines the processes, outcomes, and key findings of the Raising Expectations project, a collaborative university and industry approach to promote higher education among care…

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Australia in 2020, lockdown restrictions meant that the lives of tertiary students and mothers underwent substantial adjustment. Universities quickly adapted to full online learning with implications for accessibility and efficacy of online technologies, and home environments suitable for learning. Mothers who were…

This article examines how women academics at an Australian regional university perceived caring responsibilities as an extension of their paid employment during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. It explores how women academics negotiated boundaries around paid work, caring as a component of paid work, and their private caring…

This analysis employs the concept of gratitude to trace key 'moments' in students' global service learning placements. We problematise the uncritical promotion of interculturality as an outcome of such placements. We analyse common narratives of gratitude that emerge from students before, during and after international placements in the Global…

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted education provision worldwide. In Australia, the government took a proactive stance to reduce the impact of the pandemic, temporarily banning higher education students from attending university campuses. With a lockdown in place, educational institutions required a rapid shift in approaches to teaching and learning…

Objective: This study sought to investigate the relationship between personal, university, home and community influences on Australia's university students' mental health status. Design: Positioned within a qualitative, interpretivist paradigm, the study collected data from participants (n = 934) by means of an online survey requesting lived or…

Alongside unprecedented shifts in health care, and widespread lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, the COVID-19 pandemic brought an almost immediate shift towards digitally supported remote delivery in higher education. This paper explores the experiences and perceptions of 15 teaching academics from five universities in Victoria, Australia during…

COVID-19 forced the digitalisation of teaching and learning in a response often described as emergency remote teaching (ERT). This rapid response changed the social, spatial, and temporal arrangements of higher education and required important adaptations from educators and students alike. However, while the literature has examined the constraints…