Cultural competence is a critical attribute for staff and graduates, and is a key component in ensuring an inclusive environment at the University.

The centrality of cultural competence to the values of the University is reflected in the educational principles.

Embedding cultural competence within the staffing body and in student experience is an ongoing process, and a number of initiatives have been implemented to progress this.

The Cultural Diversity and Inclusive Practice (CDIP) Toolkit is one strategy for enhancing cultural competence and is designed to support all staff in their interactions with students and colleagues. Students too may benefit from the Toolkit since many take on roles as mentors and volunteers, and have diverse cultural networks.

The toolkit

The toolkit offers practical guidance for the activity areas of Teaching and Learning, Research, leadership and administration, and the University community.

It is a ‘live’ resource, and incorporates feedback and comments from a wide range of staff and students and will continue to be revised during the coming months.

The toolkit does not engage with cultural competence as it relates to Indigenous Australians. This will be addressed separately to acknowledge the place of Indigenous Australians as First Nations people. 

The toolkit is designed to facilitate effective inclusive practices.

You are invited to use the toolkit, assess it, and provide feedback in order to make it more effective.