A 24/7 study hub in Broome and increased scholarship funding are giving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in the Kimberley something the system has long denied them: the chance to build a career without leaving home. Source: Mary MacKillop Today.
For generations, the path to higher education in the Kimberley required one thing above all others: leaving. Leaving Country, leaving community, leaving family. For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, that was a barrier too great to cross.
A partnership between the Pilbara Kimberley University Centres (PKUC) and Mary MacKillop Today is changing that by backing the people already here, with the cultural knowledge, community connections, and deep commitment to stay.
The Broome PKUC hub, which opened officially in September 2023, is the only 24/7 study hub in the entire PKUC network.
Since opening, it has supported more than 310 registered students in the West Kimberley, with 172 actively enrolled today. Of last year’s 19 graduates, two are already working at Broome Hospital.
Amanda Davies, Centre Manager at PKUC Broome, says that outcome is precisely the point.
“People living in their regions, they like to stay here. They don’t want to upskill and leave their community. They want to upskill and stay. And when they do, they strengthen the very communities they come from.”
The hub offers high-speed NBN internet, face-to-face academic support, and round-the-clock swipe-card access because for many students, study happens after work and after the children are in bed.
Mikayla, a Yawuru and Bardi woman from Broome, is studying her Diploma in Psychology online while working at Headspace and raising her four-year-old daughter. She tried studying in Perth and found she could not stay away from home, so she came back. The scholarship has made it possible for her to continue without leaving.
“There have been times where this is all really hard. But having the scholarship will really help me to commit. It’s like a reason to keep going,” Mikayla said.
She hopes to complete her undergraduate degree and eventually a PhD in research psychology, a career that will deepen the evidence base for mental health support in communities like her own.
FULL STORY
Investing in people who stay how a regional study hub and First Nations scholarships are rebuilding the Kimberley from within (Mary MacKillop Today)
