PVC- Indigenous Strategy UNSWIS_Final_SIGN OFF_18 October 2018 low res for | Page 3

From the President and Vice-Chancellor
It is an honour to introduce UNSW’s first Indigenous
Strategy. This strategy is the product of a great deal
of work by many talented people, and it represents
a powerful vision for the future of our university: as
a place committed to educating the next generation
of First Nations leaders, celebrating the cultural
heritage of our campus and country and, more broadly,
advancing the rights and progress of Australia’s
First Peoples. the Indigenous Law Centre at UNSW Law, in a historic
consensus of First Nations—the Uluru Statement from
the Heart.
Our Kensington campus is built on the country of the
Bedegal people, on an incredibly rich anthropological
and historical site. Situated close to the epicentre of
one of the sites of first European contact, our campus
itself has a connection to many of the waves of law and
policy that have impacted upon Indigenous peoples. The strategy will ensure that everyone who studies
or works here leaves the university with a deep
understanding of the cultural footprint of UNSW.
It will see us develop our own workforce, education,
and research plans to increase Indigenous student and
staff recruitment and retention. It will also spark the
ambition of many of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander students and staff to use their experience at
UNSW to give back to their own communities.
Since becoming a university, this connection has
continued. UNSW has educated generations of First
Nations leaders and conducted research and advocacy
in areas as diverse as health, education, history, law
and politics. UNSW people played a pivotal role during
the self-determination era, where leading scholars such
as Hal Wootten, Garth Nettheim and others at UNSW
Law Centre set up Aboriginal Legal Services and
held major conferences pushing for the right to self-
determination and native title. Nura Gili’s pioneering
work through the Winter School has led the way on
Indigenous student recruitment and retention, and in
2017 we saw the culmination of 30 years of work from
The three pillars of this Indigenous Strategy, Culture
and Country, Grow our Own and Give Back, build
on this history, creating a structure around the ground-
breaking work UNSW already does, while guiding the
way for the future.
UNSW is proud to have appointed one of Australia’s
most influential Indigenous leaders, Professor Megan
Davis, as our first Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous,
to lead on this important work. Megan epitomises the
type of Indigenous scholar UNSW envisages in the
‘Grow our Own’ pillar of this strategy: an outstanding
researcher and critical thinker with the skills, resilience
and commitment to leadership necessary to achieve
meaningful impact for her fellow Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander peoples.
A core tenet of UNSW’s broader 2025 Strategy is our
commitment to advance a just society locally, nationally,
and globally. This document sets us on a path to
embedding this ethos into all that we do, so that we
become an international exemplar in equity, diversity
and inclusion, and a place where students and staff of
all backgrounds are supported to succeed.
Professor Ian Jacobs
President and Vice-Chancellor, UNSW Sydney
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