ASSETS

Aboriginal Summer School for Excellence in Technology and Science

ASSETS has a focus on the future development of the next generation of Indigenous leaders and professionals. One of its major aims is to increase the number of Indigenous graduates in the sciences. It does this by identifying Indigenous secondary school students nationally that have demonstrated potential for careers in science and technology, and then by providing them with both intellectual stimulation and exposure to successful role models. Traditionally the program has targeted exit year ten students. In 2001 the Management Committee decided to focus on exit year nine students.

The program is located within the Indigenous College of Education and Research (ICER), and though it has the overall responsibility for the program, the wider university academic community contribute to the program. They work alongside the ICER staff contributing to the planning of the program and its curriculum, and then volunteer their services during the running of the program by providing projects, and taking leadership roles in supervising these projects during the course of the program. This spirit of cooperation is a response to University of South Australia’s commitment to reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. It is also a response to how the University seeks to respond to today’s challenges of nationhood and national identity in a way that acknowledges and comprehends the past and gives hope for the future to all Australians.