Access, achievement and outcomes among students from non-english speaking backgrounds

Abstract

The particular complexities associated with the non-English speaking background (NESB) equity category highlight the need for a more sophisticated equity framework. As will be shown, the definition and identification of the NESB category is problematic, which is compounded by the difficulty of measuring equity outcomes for NESB people in higher education. While NESB people as a whole are well represented in higher education, particular sub-groups are severely under-represented. Moreover, even as single group, NESB people under-achieve at university and are severely disadvantaged in terms of employment after graduation. Hence, the predicament of NESB people highlights the need for a policy approach that targets disadvantage at all points of the higher education lifecycle: access, achievement and graduate outcomes. After providing the background to the creation of the NESB equity category and contextualising its current status, the three stages of the high education lifecycle - Access, achievement and graduate outcomes - will be successively used to examine the current predicament of NESB people, as well as the policy implications for the NESB category and equity framework generally.