Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education

[EduCativ]

Batchelor Institute began in the late 1960s as a small annex of Kormilda College, providing Aboriginal teacher aides and assistants in community schools. In 1974 Batchelor Institute moved to the Batchelor township. In 1982 the Institute commenced as a dual-sector tertiary provider, and since the 1980s has continuously focused on learning that is supportive of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. A second campus was established in 1990 in Alice Springs. Between 1988 and 1999, the Institute was known as Batchelor College. In 1999 the current Batchelor Institute was established with an emphasis on Indigenous Australian ownership and governance of the Batchelor Institute Council. Since the Australian government's higher education reforms of 2003, Batchelor Institute has been recognized and funded as a ‘National Institute.’
Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education sits uniquely in the Australian educational landscape as the only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dual-sector tertiary education provider. Under its ‘Both-ways’ philosophy, the Institute significantly provides an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lens to a mainstream education system. The Institute’s strategic planning regime comprises five organizational initiatives, referred to as system-level pillars.
These pillars underpin Batchelor Institute’s direction, work, and investment, thereby positioning the Institute, for the future, as Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, dual-sector tertiary provider of choice. The Institute will be highly profitable and have a national and international reputation for providing high-quality training, education, and research.
Indigenous students come to Batchelor as part of their life’s learning journey. They bring their knowledge, language/s, and culture with them and come as adults with a previous life and educational experience. They journey with Batchelor and continue to journey with their home community and family at the same time. We conduct cross-cultural training for staff and have completed an internal research project and created support resources around our practice philosophy. We also held Both-ways talking circles to bring together staff and students to discuss teaching and learning practices at the Institute, as well as holding a Both-ways student forum.

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