Bottom Financial Quintile Student Success

Monitoring success and completion for equity cohorts

The Student Success Strategy 2024–2025 strengthens educational equity by reducing academic, financial and participation barriers that can disproportionately affect students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. In the University’s 2025 Annual Report, 1 in 4 students enrolled at the University of Newcastle is from a low socio-economic background. The University is committed to supporting the success of these students.

The University’s Student Success Strategy establishes an institution-wide framework for student engagement, progression, retention, wellbeing and completion. Action 2.5 commits the University to monitoring participation, progress and completion by identified student subgroups, including students from low socio-economic (SES) backgrounds. The strategy sets out three practical actions: collate and review equity performance reports (2.5.1); implement support strategies identified through those reports (2.5.2); and strengthen student–academic connections through a student relationship system or process (2.5.3).

The strategy aims to improve student retention, progression and completion, helping students facing financial disadvantage successfully access and benefit from higher education. Monitoring of student outcomes and responsive support are embedded in the University’s approach, with regular reports on student retention and success provided to its Executive Leadership Team and Academic Senate.

Student support that addresses barriers to completion

Specific activities in the student success strategy are used to support students including flexible learning options, financial wellbeing support, targeted academic assistance, peer mentoring and enhanced early intervention. The strategy recognises that many University of Newcastle students balance study with work, family and community responsibilities and therefore require flexible, inclusive and responsive support.

The Support for Students Policy in force during 2025 established proactive follow-up for students at risk of not completing their studies. This included students who had not logged into a course site for two weeks, had not submitted an assessment item, or had not achieved at least 50% in an assessment. The University contacted students identified through these indicators to connect them with academic and wellbeing support.

In the first quarter of 2025, the University’s HEPPP-funded Student Wellbeing portfolio reported outreach and targeted engagement with more than 8,158 students, alongside over 2,800 enabling-counselling sessions, with average waiting times below 48 hours. Its support included financial wellbeing advice, bursaries, hardship grants and accessibility assistance for equity students, particularly those from low-SES, regional and remote, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds.

The Pathways and Academic Learning Support (PALS) Centre also delivered six HEPPP-supported projects in the first quarter of 2025. Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) in five high-attrition enabling courses provided 268 hours of peer-led support to 116 participating students; two courses reached the 10% engagement benchmark. These activities demonstrate the University’s practical approach to academic engagement and progression, complementing its completion-monitoring commitments.

Connected, supported and empowered

The strategy is built around three interconnected priorities:

• Connected – creating a strong sense of belonging and engagement.
• Supported – ensuring students have access to the academic, personal and wellbeing support needed to succeed.
• Empowered – helping students become confident, self-directed learners.

The strategy identifies several measurable objectives and indicators to assess student success. These include student retention, progression, graduation rates, student experience, career outcomes, postgraduate employment outcomes, and student mental health and wellbeing. It also specifies a commitment that 100% of staff will undertake Cultural Capability training, supporting a more inclusive learning environment.

By 2025, the strategy seeks to achieve a range of broad and inclusive outcomes that enhance the overall student experience and support student success. These include improved first-year transition, greater engagement in mentoring and academic support, accessible wellbeing services, stronger equity-cohort support and opportunities for career development and industry placements. The accompanying Student Retention Plan 2024–2025 provides the operational framework for this work.

Through its focus on connection, support and empowerment, the University is working to ensure that students facing financial disadvantage can progress confidently through their studies and towards graduation. Its cohort-level monitoring and targeted student services help translate a commitment to educational equity into everyday academic and wellbeing support.