Designing Inclusive Student Experiences: Advancing Diversity in Higher Education 
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The third session in the HERDSA and AAUT National Webinar Series brought together colleagues from across the higher education sector for an engaging and timely panel discussion on Designing Inclusive Student Experiences: Advancing Diversity in Higher Education. 

The session was chaired by A/Prof Janis Wardrop, HERDSA NSW Co-Branch Chair, and featured three nationally recognised educators: Prof Creina Day, Professor of Economics at The Australian National University and recipient of a 2024 Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning; Dr Diana Mendez, from the JCU Cohort Doctoral Studies Program, which received a 2023 Program Award; and A/Prof Rosalie Goldsmith, Associate Professor in Academic Language and Learning at the University of Technology Sydney and member of the Embedding English Language Program Team, recipient of a 2022 Program Award. 

Together, the panellists explored what it means to design higher education experiences that move beyond access and participation towards genuine belonging, confidence, equity, and student success. 

A key theme across the discussion was that inclusive education must be intentionally designed from the outset, rather than retrofitted later. Panellists emphasised that students enter higher education with diverse backgrounds, prior educational experiences, levels of confidence, responsibilities, identities, and forms of knowledge. Designing with diversity in mind therefore requires educators and institutions to ask: Who are our students? What assumptions are we making about their prior knowledge and confidence? Whose experiences are visible in the curriculum? What pathways are we creating to support high standards in ways that are clear, fair, and enabling? 

Prof Creina Day highlighted the importance of curriculum visibility, noting that students cannot be what they cannot see. Drawing on her work in economics education, she discussed the need to look beyond traditional textbooks and disciplinary conventions to design curriculum that speaks to a wider range of students and lived experiences. She also reminded participants that assessment can either build understanding and confidence or widen existing confidence gaps, depending on how it is designed. 

Dr Diana Mendez extended the discussion into postgraduate research education, where inclusion is often shaped through the supervisory relationship. She noted that diversity may be visible or invisible and that research students may not always feel comfortable naming or disclosing the support they need. Her reflections highlighted the importance of cultural and diversity safety in supervision, particularly when working with students whose ways of thinking, communicating, or learning may differ from those of their supervisors. Diana also emphasised the value of recognising students’ lived and professional experiences as strengths, rather than treating diversity through a deficit lens. 

A/Prof Rosalie Goldsmith foregrounded the importance of inclusive design, Universal Design for Learning, and embedded academic language development. She encouraged educators to move away from generalised assumptions about “the student” and instead listen carefully to students’ experiences, feedback, and needs. Rosalie also highlighted the value of discipline-specific, assessment-linked academic language development that is embedded across the degree, rather than front-loaded or offered only as generic support. 

The panel also raised significant concerns about the broader higher education environment. Budgetary pressures and the reduction of learning and teaching support services were identified as major risks to inclusive education. Panellists and participants noted that when specialist support is reduced, the responsibility for inclusive curriculum, assessment, academic language development, academic integrity, and student support often shifts to already time-poor disciplinary academics. 

Generative AI also emerged as an important equity issue. The discussion highlighted that educational technologies are not neutral and may reproduce existing social, cultural, linguistic, and economic inequalities. Panellists raised concerns about unequal access to premium AI tools, differential confidence in using AI, and the need to examine whether AI tools are culturally and diversity safe. The conversation reinforced the importance of institutional responsibility when AI tools become part of learning and assessment environments. 

Another strong theme was the need to move beyond access and participation towards belonging and success. Panellists encouraged participants to unpack what “belonging” means: belonging to the university, to a cohort, to a discipline, to a profession, or to a future sense of self. The discussion highlighted that belonging is not achieved through orientation events alone, but through safe and welcoming learning spaces, meaningful peer communities, student societies, cohort connections, inclusive curriculum, and opportunities for students to see successful pathways modelled by others. 

Dr Diana Mendez shared the value of inviting graduates back into programs so current students can see that success is possible. Prof Creina Day emphasised the importance of helping students understand the “why” of their learning, including how their studies connect to policy, employability, professional identity, and future contribution. A/Prof Rosalie Goldsmith reinforced the need to create spaces where students can find “their place and their people”. 

The session also explored how success in inclusive education might be measured. Panellists suggested that retention, progression, student voice, longitudinal interviews, benchmarking, and reflective teaching practice all have a role to play. However, they cautioned that numerical indicators alone are insufficient. Inclusive success also requires attention to student confidence, agency, academic identity, joy, connection, and the supports that enable students to continue and thrive. 

In response to participant questions, the panel considered how educators can support international students who understand content well but may engage differently in speaking, questioning, or group work. A/Prof Rosalie Goldsmith noted the importance of avoiding assumptions about international students and designing academic language development for all students. She described an approach in which students identified as needing additional support participated in discipline-specific, assessment-linked tutorials that provided a comfortable space to ask questions, practise language, and build confidence. 

The discussion concluded with bold calls for sector-level change. Panellists called for stronger accountability between institutional values, policies, and everyday practice; greater resourcing for inclusive learning and teaching; stronger attention to inclusion, equity, and access in curriculum and program review; and sector measures that value how included and supported students feel, not only conventional rankings and performance metrics. 

The session generated a highly engaged chat discussion, with participants sharing examples, questions, provocations, and resources related to Universal Design for Learning, academic language development, belonging, Indigenous research supervision, international student participation, equity-capable careers services, and inclusive institutional practice. 

A recording of the webinar is available here: https://youtu.be/bIaHIfKBz5g  

Resources shared during the session 

The following resources were shared or discussed by panellists and participants during the session: 

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