The University of Wollongong is committed to working towards the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through its governance, teaching and learning, community engagement, partnerships and research. The following initiatives are by UOW staff and students working towards SDG 1: No Poverty.
Goal 1: No Poverty
End poverty in all its forms, everywhere
Teaching & learning
$1.3M
Went to students from low SES backgrounds
571
Students received equity scholarships
2,261
Students studying subjects about this goal
Advocacy & outreach
94
Media articles about this goal
27M
Articles appeared in media outlets with a combined potential audience reach of 27M
Research
65.6%
Publications with international collaboration
43%
of the international collaboration publications are with developing countries
1.7
citations per publication (global average 1.9)
35.5%
Publications in the top 10% of journals
2022 figures used unless otherwise specified.
UOW provides free support services available to all students, including counselling, career development, disability services, and academic or learning development. Student Support Coordinators (SSCs) offer a free and confidential service and are available to all students.
Access & participation
UOW has a proud history of working closely with its communities to drive increased participation and attainment among underrepresented groups in higher education. These groups include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, those with disabilities, from low Socio-Economic-Status (SES) backgrounds and regional, rural and remote areas. The University has developed the ’Access & Participation Enabling Plan for Student Equity: A Framework for the Implementation of HEPPP 2018-2020’ to improve access to undergraduate courses for people from low SES backgrounds, as well as improving the retention and completion rates.
In2Uni
In2Uni activities engage with students in targeted schools and communities to enable their awareness and aspirations towards higher education. Our strategic aim as an institution is to increase the proportion of domestic undergraduate students from low socioeconomic backgrounds to 21% by the end of 2020, through providing targeted outreach and pathways programs to the community, and seamless transition activities and support to UOW students.
Social security in a digital age
Governments around the world are increasingly looking to new and sophisticated technologies to automate and streamline the delivery of social services. These ‘digital welfare’ innovations are ordinarily touted as a means to improve efficiency and quality of service delivery, but can also be a source of injustice and deepen inequality. This empirically-grounded, interdisciplinary research project brings together legal scholars, social researchers and systems analysts to examine the social implications of the digital welfare state for vulnerable communities in Australia.
Goodwill Hunting
Now a fixture on UOW’s Orientation week calendar Goodwill Hunting attracts hundreds of eager students aiming to collect free household items, donated from the UOW staff and community members. In 2019 over 1000 students participated.
Microfinance and women’s empowerment
Led by Dr Farzana Tanima, this project is working alongside feminist activists and not-for-profit women’s microfinance organisations in Bangladesh, to investigate how conventional accounting and accountability systems in microfinance organisations reinforce structural barriers disempowering women.
Images: Dr Farzana Tanima (left) and Dr Dr Sanja Pupovac (right)
Critical accounting
UOW’s Dr Sanja Pupovac investigates the social and environmental impact of multinational corporations on vulnerable groups in developing countries. Her research is investigating the role of accounting in human trafficking in an economically poor post-conflict Kosovo.
Completions by Equity Groups at the University of Wollongong
The University of Wollongong is firm in its commitment to support students from under- represented (equity) groups and low socio-economic status (low SES) backgrounds. The university offers a range of scholarship and mentoring programs to support student success from these groups.
Completions by Indigenous students
| Year | Non-Indigenous | Indigenous |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 97.57% | 2.43% |
| 2021 | 97.76% | 2.24% |
| 2022 | 97.38% | 2.62% |
Completions by students with disability
| Year | Non-disability | Disability |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 86.63% | 13.37% |
| 2021 | 87.31% | 12.69% |
| 2022 | 88.74% | 11.26% |
Completions by students from low-SES
| Year | Non-Low SES | Low SES |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 86.41% | 13.59% |
| 2021 | 86.25% | 13.75% |
| 2022 | 84.69% | 15.31% |
Completions by remote or regional students
| Year | Non remote or regional | Remote or regional |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 72.52% | 27.48% |
| 2021 | 72.07% | 27.93% |
| 2022 | 72.07% | 27.93% |
*Equity data presented is for domestic undergraduates
- The percentage of completions from students coming from under-represented groups and low socio-economic backgrounds show consistency with the commencing percentages of the same groups at UOW.
- Increases have been observed in the number of completions from Indigenous students (2.43% in 2020 to 2.62% in 2023), low SES students (13.59% in 2020 to 15.31% in
2022) and regional and remote students (27.48% in 2020 to 27.93% in 2022).
