$1.5bn has gone into getting disadvantaged students into uni for very small gains. So what more can be done?
- Written by Sarah O' Shea, Professor and Director, National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education, Curtin University

The proportion of Australian university students from under-represented backgrounds has “barely moved” in more than a decade, federal Education Minister Jason Clare noted last week. About 15% of undergraduates came from low-socieconomic-status (SES) backgrounds in 2008, he said, and a target of 20% by 2020 was set. Today...