The participation of non-English-speaking-background persons in higher education

Current equity plans for Australian higher education are based on research which claims that non-English-speaking-background (NESB) people are under-represented in the universities. The problem is held to be particularly acute for recent arrivals and equity plans are currently in place to rectify this situation. The background research, however, is inaccurate. Young NESB people have higher participation rates than English-speaking-background people. In some cases, such as the Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese speakers, the level of participation is striking. Copyright. Monash University and the author/s