Indigenous Engagement

The Indigenous Engagement team provides a culturally secure learning environment for Indigenous students in the Faculty of Health Sciences.  We support students to grow and develop skills and knowledge, determine their own learning needs, and graduate with a strong sense of cultural and professional identity. 

The Faculty would like to pay our respects to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of our community by acknowledging the Wadjuk people of the land on which Bentley Campus is located, and the Wongutha people of the North-Eastern Goldfields, where our Kalgoorlie Campus is located. 

Student Support

The Indigenous Engagement team supports you with:

• navigating the transition to university
• accessing academic support and guidance
• advocating on your behalf to staff
• connecting with the Koorda Network.

Koorda Network

The Koorda Network comprises staff across the Faculty who have completed cultural security training workshops. These staff members include deputy heads of school and course coordinators who identify as Indigenous allies and can provide you with career guidance and additional support at the School level.

Professional Networks

In order to address Close the Gap targets we need to build an Indigenous health workforce. We encourage our students to join one of the many professional Indigenous health networks. You can contact the Indigenous Engagement team to learn more about the organisations and the benefits of joining.

Associations include:

• Indigenous Allied Health Australia
• Australian Indigenous Doctors Association
• Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives
• National Association of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Physiotherapists

Admission pathways

There is more than one way to qualify for Curtin courses. Find out more about our different pathway options:

• Portfolio Entry
• ATAR score
• UniReady
• Indigenous Pre-Medicine and Health Sciences Enabling Course.

Research

The Indigenous Engagement team participates in and leads research activities that also create opportunities for local Aboriginal community groups to be involved in.  Most recently, the Balang Djuripin project was a 2018 Curtin Innovations grant which enabled the Koorda Network to be established.

Curtin is proud to be widely recognised for its achievements in applied research and has a number of research focus areas in solving real-world problems.  Some of these include:

• New mental health research draws wisdom from Aboriginal elders
• Big systems create challenges for Indigenous health
• Tomorrow’s Indigenous psychologists awarded inaugural scholarships