First Nations students’ perceptions of the enablers of and barriers to success in Australian higher education: a systematic review

Abstract This article offers a systematic review of what the literature tells us about how First Nations students perceive the factors that contribute to or hinder their success in Australian higher education. It builds on the ‘Aboriginal Voices’ project that investigated the many and varied issues that have contributed to the underachievement of First Nations students in Australian schools. Focusing on research published between 2010 and 2020, we examine the key enablers of and barriers to Indigenous student success at university, concentrating on the views of Indigenous students themselves. This review highlights that this topic is crucially divided between the motivation and mobilisation of First Nations students and the fixed institutional and cultural structures through which they move. The review concludes that the primary barriers to Indigenous success in higher education are racism and whiteness in universities, and socioeconomic disadvantage in Indigenous communities; the primary enablers of Indigenous success are family and community support, Indigenous-specific support services, peer support and mentoring, and trusting and supportive relationships with university staff.