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NEWS
Head start for start-ups
New initiative backs innovative companies to modernise education sector.
Start-ups are eyeing education as the industry in which to prosper, and the EduGrowth accelerator has announced the first five companies it will be helping do just that. The start-ups selected are:
• PrevYou – an online school for tertiary students that aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Established by Martin Astbury and Leo Walton.
• Life is Yellow – an iPad game that delivers 20,000 questions in mental arithmetic to primary school children via battles between magical creatures. Established by Isuru Wanasinghe.
• BEcoME – an in-development app that will aim to help children and adolescents map their career path. Established by Liv Pennie.
• JIFox – a one-stop shop for students and teachers to access past exams. Founded by brothers Jack and John Fox.
• Craftsposure – an online business school for creatives. Established by Ria Chan.
These entrepreneurs now have $ 50,000 each in seed funding from EduGrowth, along with mentorship from those who’ ve already shaken up education. In return, EduGrowth gains a 6 per cent equity stake in the start-ups.
“ Universities and schools are customers of the products and services, generally, that our start-ups are developing,” EduGrowth chief executor Riley Batchelor said.
“ They are looking for technology solutions to drive data outcomes to their students, to enhance teacher efficiency, to create better general quality education in their organisation.”
Isuru Wanasinghe, the founder of Life is Yellow, said he directed his ideas at education because“ the way that we deliver education could be so much better and it’ s so far behind. We’ re still stuck in our ways, and we’ re stuck in a system that’ s about 100 or 200 years old”.
Founded last year, EduGrowth is a not-for-profit education startup accelerator founded by Deakin University, La Trobe University, Monash University, Charles Sturt University, Griffith University and private education multinational Navitas. ■
UA focus on Indigenous enrolment
Compulsory study of Indigenous culture for all university students also on UA agenda.
Universities Australia( UA) has unveiled its new Indigenous education strategy, the centrepiece of which is to grow Indigenous enrolment rates so they reflect the Indigenous proportion of the total population.
Currently, Indigenous students represent 1.6 per cent of the university student population, according to figures from the federal Department of Education. The good news is that this is up 1.2 per cent compared to a decade ago.
But the 2011 Census showed that Indigenous people make up 2.7 per cent of the total Australian population.
“ Despite these large strides forward, there is more to be done,” said UA chief executive Belinda Robinson.“ That’ s why the university sector has come together to redouble our efforts through this strategy.”
UA is also aiming to achieve equal student retention rates for Indigenous students by 2025 and equal completion rates by 2028. Among Australia’ s universities, the six-year completion student rate is 66.7 per cent, with lower rates among the universities that take on more Indigenous students.
Also included in the strategy is a provision that all university students study Indigenous culture sometime during their course. Indigenous representatives will also observe UA’ s vice-chancellor meetings. The overall public profile of Indigenous education will also be raised.
Robinson said the success of this strategy hinges on universities, Indigenous communities and the federal government working together. She also said its success could be threatened if the federal budget cut to the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program( HEPPP) goes ahead.
In the last federal Budget, the Coalition government announced that the $ 152 million allocated to HEPPP would be cut by 2020. ■
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