There is a strong rationale for people seeking asylum and refugees given temporary protection to be key beneficiaries of Australian higher education equity practices. However, despite the extreme precarity they face, this group remains among the most educationally disadvantaged populations in Australia. Here, we use critical discourse analysis to examine the publicly available statements of 38 Australian universities to identify discursive representations of equity practices and connections, with our analytic gaze focused through the lens of people seeking asylum. Using a three-part analytic heuristic examining ‘statements’, ‘practices’ and ‘connections’, we offer a critical discourse analysis of how each public university expresses its commitment to the equity agenda in powerful stakeholder-facing documents—such as annual reports, strategic plans and media releases—and we compare this analysis against institutional stated practices with regard to people seeking asylum. In identifying misalignments between equity statements and stated practices, we suggest that institutional equity narratives articulate ‘imagined worlds’, in which all marginalised groups can access higher education. We argue that now is the time to move beyond these ‘imagined worlds’, to enact stated commitments to universal education, by instituting real and effective practices to facilitate equitable access to Australian higher education for people seeking asylum.

中文翻译：

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澳大利亚高等教育公平的话语建构：想象的世界和寻求庇护者的案例

寻求庇护和获得临时保护的难民成为澳大利亚高等教育公平实践的主要受益者是有充分理由的。然而，尽管他们面临着极端的不稳定，但这一群体仍然是澳大利亚教育最弱势的群体之一。在这里，我们使用批判性话语分析来检查 38 所澳大利亚大学的公开声明，以确定公平实践和联系的话语表述，我们的分析目光通过寻求庇护者的镜头聚焦。我们使用由三部分组成的分析启发式检查“声明”、“实践”和“联系”，对每所公立大学如何在面向利益相关者的有力文件（例如年度报告、战略计划和媒体发布——我们将这一分析与有关寻求庇护者的机构规定做法进行比较。在识别公平声明和陈述的实践之间的不一致时，我们建议机构公平叙述阐明“想象的世界”，其中所有边缘化群体都可以接受高等教育。我们认为，现在是时候超越这些“想象的世界”，通过制定真实有效的做法来促进寻求庇护者公平获得澳大利亚高等教育，从而制定对普及教育的明确承诺。我们建议机构公平叙述阐明了“想象的世界”，其中所有边缘化群体都可以接受高等教育。我们认为，现在是时候超越这些“想象的世界”，通过制定真实有效的做法来促进寻求庇护者公平获得澳大利亚高等教育，从而制定对普及教育的明确承诺。我们建议机构公平叙述阐明了“想象的世界”，其中所有边缘化群体都可以接受高等教育。我们认为，现在是时候超越这些“想象的世界”，通过制定真实有效的做法来促进寻求庇护者公平获得澳大利亚高等教育，从而制定对普及教育的明确承诺。