CQ Connections – Breaking through the barriers to tertiary education

This paper discusses the findings of research which was conducted to identify the barriers to accessing and succeeding at tertiary study, as perceived by year 11 and 12 low income students from five Central Queensland schools. The findings of this project has the potential to assist the future direction of Central Queensland University recruitment policies and procedures by providing demographic data that will enable recruitment programs to be inclusive of people from low socioeconomic backgrounds and by providing information enabling perceived barriers to university study to be addressed. The paper incorporates a description of CQ Connections which is an equity program conducted at CQU aimed at increasing the access, participation and success of LSES students at CQU.