The digital divide is often described as the discrepancy in the availability of new technologies, such as broadband. On that basis, the roll-out of the National Broadband Network, extending broadband to almost every Australian household, should be good news, as it should close that divide.

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This scholarship aims to help dismantle barriers that keep students with disabilities from entering computing, encourage them to excel in their studies and become active role models and leaders in creating technology. Applications close 15 March 2010.

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Queensland University of Technology has come up with a novel way to encourage school leavers from disadvantaged areas to go on to university.

QUT has taken university subjects into the high school classroom.

For the past 18 months, a group of students from Redcliffe, Clontarf Beach, Deception Bay and North Lakes, just north of Brisbane, have studied university subjects after hours at Redcliffe State High School.

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Patricia Faulkner AO, the Chair of the Australian Social Inclusion Board, launched the Board’s report, Social Inclusion in Australia: How Australia is faring. 22 January 2010

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The program provides support to deserving students from families experiencing financial hardship, rural isolation, Indigenous students and those who would be the first person in their immediate family to study at university.

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The Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, announced that around a quarter of all Australian schools (some 2,500) will participate in Smarter Schools National Partnerships. The National Partnerships between the Federal Government and all state and territory governments will provide funding aimed at overcoming educational disadvantage associated with low socio-economic status, improving teacher quality and raising the literacy and numeracy standards of all children, particularly those at risk of falling behind.

As thousands of children return to school this week, a survey by national children's charity, The Smith Family, has revealed a startling disparity between the educational resources adults believe are essential for school children's success, compared with the reality.

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We invite you to complete a short, online survey designed to gain user feedback on the performance of the equity 101 website to date and suggestions for any improvements.  

The  survey can be accessed at www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZGFQL5N or Click here to take survey. The survey will be closing on Friday February 20^th so please take a few minutes now to let us know what you think.

Accessibility experts from the world of social media will be helping those in education to make technology adapt and enable people to use it, rather than the other way around, at an event in Nottingham called Rewiring Inclusion on 8 and 9 February 2010.

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The Minister for Social Inclusion, Julia Gillard, today launched the Australian Government’s national statement on social inclusion, A Stronger, Fairer Australia. The statement, released at the inaugural Social Inclusion Conference in Melbourne, sets out the Government’s vision and strategy for social inclusion now and into the future. Ministerial media release, 28 January 2010

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