The Australian Indigenous Education Foundation (AIEF) was established in 2008 to remove financial barriers hindering Indigenous students and their families from choosing a quality boarding school education.
Under a parent and school-led model, AIEF provides co-funding to enable Indigenous students to complete Year 12 or tertiary studies at an AIEF educational partner.
Consistent with the principle of self-determination, AIEF responds to self-generated demand from Indigenous families. Families choose a school themselves, initiate the enrolment application process and financially contribute to the school fees. The rationale for AIEF’s existence is to empower Indigenous families and communities to make key decisions affecting their own family, including how and where their children are educated.
Backed by some of Australia’s most influential business, philanthropic and community leaders, AIEF has grown from one scholarship student in 2008 to now supporting over 1,200 young Indigenous people from over 400 communities in every state and territory of Australia.
In 2023, AIEF’s rate of annual retention and Year 12 completion was 94 per cent and the rate of annual retention and completion rate for AIEF’s tertiary scholarship program was 100 per cent.
Furthermore, 93 per cent of all AIEF Alumni included in the Pathways Program since AIEF’s inception have embarked on a productive career pathway after completing secondary school. These outcomes reflect AIEF’s mission to empower young Indigenous people to build a brighter future for themselves and for the nation.
Programs
Bringing together the government and private sector, AIEF provides scholarship funding for Indigenous students to complete Year 12 or tertiary studies, with career support to help them make a successful transition to employment.
The AIEF Scholarship Program provides financial support through scholarship funding for Indigenous students to pursue their education at leading Australian boarding schools and universities.
The AIEF Pathways Program complements the AIEF Scholarship Program by providing ongoing career support to enable AIEF Scholarship Students to make a successful transition from school or university to further studies or employment.
Community demand
AIEF provides scholarship funding to enable Partner Schools to respond to the increasing demand from Indigenous families and increase the number of Indigenous boarders at their schools.
Most boarding schools in Australia with Indigenous education programs had been engaged in this field for many years before AIEF was established. These boarding schools identified that expansion was constrained, and a scholarship provider was critical for growing their programs, due to difficulty accessing external funds to pay for their Indigenous education programs and the financial cost already being absorbed by schools themselves.
AIEF sought to address this issue and support schools to increase the number of Indigenous boarders to help address scholarship demand from Indigenous families and communities.
With up to 50 enquiries for one scholarship place at some schools, AIEF seeks to get its funding to meet the demand from over 400 Indigenous communities around the country. AIEF is unable to keep up with demand and there is still a long way to go.
Growing AIEF’s funding to increase scholarship places and to help co-fund more scholarships with Indigenous families is vital to the organisation’s mission.
Educational partners
Each AIEF Partner School’s Indigenous education program is led and run autonomously by the school itself, and they enrol Indigenous students through a variety of different programs, organisations and funding arrangements. This approach to Indigenous education is what AIEF calls a ‘parent and school-led’ model.
This acknowledges that each Partner School is independent, with differences in culture, local context, historical origins, values, beliefs, teaching styles, leadership, ethos and approaches to Indigenous culture, education, pastoral care, parental engagement and student support.
Before partnering with a new school, AIEF considers a range of factors such as:
demonstrated historical outcomes of the school’s Indigenous education program
commitment from school leadership to the program
strength of relationships between the school and Indigenous families and communities
level of investment in the school’s Indigenous student support and pastoral care the extent to which a school has created a genuinely welcoming environment for Indigenous students across the school community.
External evaluation
Using a substantial amount of data collected over a decade, AIEF engaged KPMG to independently evaluate its program outcomes. The evaluation report details the outcomes and impact of AIEF’s programs for individual students, their families, schools and the wider community.
Key findings include:
AIEF students are 2.3 times more likely to complete Year 12 than the overall Indigenous population.
AIEF Year 12 graduates are four times as likely to go to university than the overall Indigenous population.
Financial barriers insurmountable without AIEF: For the largest share of AIEF Scholarship Students’ families, household income was A$40,000 or below per year.
The report also found other positive impacts among AIEF Alumni and AIEF Partner Schools, including:
ripple effects within Indigenous families, as involvement in AIEF programs inspired other family members to seek out similar opportunities
involvement of Indigenous families in school activities
involvement of AIEF Alumni in community and leadership activities
increased leadership skills and confidence among AIEF Alumni.
The report concluded that AIEF works effectively within the ecosystem of Indigenous education to broaden sources of funding and facilitate educational access to high performing schools, improving the lifetime social and economic wellbeing of participating students and their communities.
Neerim’s story
The impact of quality education can be seen in some of AIEF’s earliest graduates.
Neerim completed Year 12 on an AIEF Scholarship in 2010. A proud Kirraewhurrong and Gkuthaarn man, Neerim grew up in northwest Queensland in the remote community of Normanton. At the time, Normanton only had a primary school. Education options were limited, so Neerim’s family encouraged him to apply for boarding school.
“I loved my time at St Augustine’s. I find it difficult to articulate what that school did for me, and what that cohort of lads did for me,” Neerim said.
“I was very fortunate to have other Indigenous students in my year. We were all away from Country, and we all knew what that felt like and could support one another. It transformed into a real brotherhood. There are boys I went to school with who I still hold amongst my nearest and dearest friends.”
Today, Neerim is working in community justice in Victoria. He works with Aboriginal community-controlled organisations to ensure that the programs they want to deliver make sense to their communities.
“I look at ways to enhance self-determination for Aboriginal people, ensuring that the voices of grassroots and local communities are heard in setting strategic priorities. That’s a real key for us. Self-determination isn’t a throwaway line, it’s a principle we bring to life in the work that we do every day,” Neerim said.
“This is what AIEF does so well. The AIEF model is directly linked with self-advocacy. Families have the choice as to whether they want their children to go to boarding school. It doesn’t remove agency — it enhances it. AIEF gives Indigenous families the opportunity to get a quality education that they may not otherwise have.
“To receive an AIEF Scholarship, you’ve got to apply, you’ve got to get in and then AIEF provides the funding and support. It makes the students feel like they earned their spot. They go to these schools because of what’s between their ears and what’s in their heart. They have the opportunity to find that area of intersection between success and progress in the Western world, without compromising their values and identity.
“AIEF isn’t just an organisation to me—it’s something more personal. I have my family and my parents, but for me AIEF has always been an objective sounding board, helping me to think things through and follow what my spirit is telling me to do. The greatest contribution we can make to our communities is to be the best version of ourselves.”
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