Uni of Adelaide 'signs' with Port Adelaide Community

Tuesday, 17 October 2017

The University of Adelaide today signed a three-year agreement with Port Adelaide Football Club’s community organisation, Power Community Limited, to support Aboriginal youth education.

The University has become a major partner with the Club’s Aboriginal AFL Academy Program. Over the next three years, the University will be working alongside the Club to encourage and support young Indigenous people to find pathways into university education.

“This is a big step for the University of Adelaide; it will not only increase our profile within the Aboriginal community but help us contribute towards closing the gap,” says Professor Shane Hearn, Dean of Indigenous Research and Education Strategy at the University of Adelaide.

“Over the next three years, we will be supporting the next generation of young Indigenous leaders within the Aboriginal AFL Academy to consider a university education; we will show them how they can access university, what the pathways are and the support they can expect.

“Young Aboriginal people have the same aspirations as non-Aboriginal people when it comes to career and achievement, but their challenges can be quite different and sometimes harder. They often don’t know what options are available to them.

“The Port Adelaide Football Club has achieved great recognition for its Aboriginal programs. As a partner of the Club’s Aboriginal AFL Academy Program, we will be able to reach many more young Aboriginal people, and work together to inspire and support them to consider university education.”

The University’s participation in the partnership will operate through its Wirltu Yarlu Aboriginal Education Unit. Wirltu Yarlu is responsible for recruiting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to foundation and degree programs, administers special entry access schemes and provides support services to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island students at the University.

The Power Community’s programs engage with around 100,000 young people a year in South Australia and the Northern Territory through their youth and specialised Aboriginal programs.

“We are passionate about the work we do through our community programs and we have a real impact in developing young people for life after school,” says Paul Vandenbergh, Director of Aboriginal Programs.

“It is one thing to get young Aboriginal people drafted into the Academy, but to get them into university as well, that’s the real goal of our program.

“We look forward to working with the University of Adelaide to bring real change for our Indigenous youth.”

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