NEWS AND MEDIA

In the lead up to the launch of the AIEF Compendium, Andrew Penfold
explains how the Compendium can assist schools around the country to achieve
better outcomes with thousands more students than the 7,000 AIEF aims to
support through its programs.

A new AIEF campaign in The Australian highlights the fact that motivates
AIEF’s work – there is no gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians
who are well educated. With the
launch of the AIEF Compendium of best practice for achieving successful
outcomes with Indigenous students in Australian boarding schools, produced with
the support of HSBC Bank, AIEF aims to equip schools across the country with
the expertise of educators with a track record of success in Indigenous
education.

The Australian profiles Tim Hill, who is graduating from the University
of Sydney with degrees in Engineering and Commerce after completing his studies
last year on an AIEF-BHP Billiton Tertiary Scholarship. Tim is the first student to graduate on
the scholarship, which is awarded to outstanding Indigenous students studying engineering
and other mining-related degrees, and the first to successfully apply to BHP
Billiton’s Graduate Program, which aims to develop BHP Billiton’s future
leaders and technical experts.

An editorial in The Australian says AIEF Scholarships enable Indigenous
children to take advantage of the full range of opportunities available in
Australia today.

On the seventh anniversary of the Apology to Australia’s Indigenous
peoples, AIEF Alum Phillip reflects on the significance of the Apology and
calls for recognition of Indigenous Australians in the Constitution.

AIEF Ambassadors Sir Ralph Norris, John Eales AM, Mark Arbib and John
Hartigan on why they support AIEF.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says an AIEF Scholar – like Lowanna Moran,
the first student to complete both her secondary and tertiary education on AIEF
Scholarships – will one day become Prime Minister.

At the launch of AIEF’s ground-breaking guide to best practice in
Indigenous education, Latiesha Dunbar told an audience including business
leaders and the Prime Minister that AIEF’s support helped her keep a promise to
become the first person in her family to finish Year 12.

The Weekend Australian’s Business Pulse of the Nation reports from the
AIEF Compendium and Annual Report Launch.

An editorial in The Australian says the latest edition of the Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage report highlights the effectiveness of programs developed by communities and says that such initiatives, as well as the work of non-government organisations like AIEF “should continue for as long as it takes” to ensure Indigenous Australians “enjoy the prosperity and opportunities other Australians take for granted”

Editor-in-Chief of The Australian Women’s Weekly Helen McCabe says that attending boarding school changed her life and introduced her to a whole new world of learning. In The Weekend Australian she says she is proud to support AIEF’s efforts to provide the same opportunities to a generation of Indigenous children.

David Gonski AC says that education can have impact not only on a family, but in the wider community, and that he believes strongly in the work of AIEF, “an organisation dedicated to bringing great education opportunities within the reach of young Indigenous Australians”.