Indigenous Cultural Competency for Business

The Newcastle Business School is one of the two schools comprising the Faculty of Business and Law at the University of Newcastle. Discipline groups in this school are:

The existing Newcastle Business School initiatives are a microcosm of the Universities general profile for the curriculum inclusions that encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural competency. Disciplines such as Tourism have significant content embedded and indeed there is a professional expectation that Indigenous issues will be included in their degree programs. Other disciplines such as Politics and Business identify minimal inclusion, but acknowledge the potential for greater engagement.

Applying the Indigenous Cultural Competency Model to Business

The Indigenous Cultural Competency Model has been applied to activities in the School of Business in the following ways:

Community priorities

Focus groups conducted with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities emphasised the need for the structural innovation that will:

Include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices in curriculum;
Overturn stereotypes about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and organisations;
Create opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to gain business qualifications. Find out more

Disciplinary Engagement

One option for the inclusion of Indigenous Cultural Competency in School of Business programs is for content, such as case studies, to be progressively embedded within a range of mandatory courses and electives. Case studies would be linked to assessment, ensuring student engagement with the materials. Embedding this material will encourage students to view Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives as an integral part of their disciplinary engagement, professional development and practice rather than a token add-on. This foundational knowledge will allow students to engage at an increasingly sophisticated level in later courses during their degree program and in subsequent employment. Find out more

Reflection

Another aspect of including Indigenous Cultural Competency involves reflecting on current practice. As a means of auditing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content in courses and gauging staff attitudes and approaches to Indigenisation in Tourism, Professor Stephen Nicholas, Pro Vice-Chancellor Faculty of Business and Law provided funding to Dr Tamara Young, Head, Discipline of Leisure and Tourism, with Dr Annona Pearce employed as the research academic. Their research revealed that the literature on Indigenous Tourism in Australia is limited despite its centrality to the Australian Tourism agenda. Find out more

Resourcing Change

It is clearly recognized that an ongoing database of appropriate materials for both students and staff is needed. As academic literature in this area is limited, web accessible policies and programs will be useful resources. Further, curriculum innovation, particularly when outside of the staff's existing areas of interest requires institutional support and recognition to be effective. Find out more

Innovation

Creating a tertiary environment exemplifying Indigenous Cultural Competency requires the consideration that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples motivations in approaching their program choice. An innovative program exemplifying the features of the Indigenous Cultural Competency Model is the Graduate Certificate in Business Administration offered to the Chief Executive Officers (CEO's) of the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council. This offering also highlights the value of cross-university collaboration, with the Wollotuka Institute playing a pivotal role in community negotiation and course delivery. Find out more

Artwork: Culcha Disk (1999)

The University of Newcastle, Australia