Researchers and widening participation equity practitioners from the University of Sydney, University of Canberra, University of Wollongong and Country Education Foundation were granted more than half a million dollars from the NSW Department of Education to establish new forms of supportive digital communications for regional students and parents.

The project is not intended to actively dissuade or encourage regional students to take a gap year. The non-branded resources are designed to provide information to help regional students and parents think through what they might want from a gap year and correct known misconceptions about gap years and university experiences.

The topics that the resources will feature include the financial and social costs of going to university and issues associated with indecisions about going to university, what to study and careers.

“For many students, a gap year is a necessary, well-reasoned and ultimately helpful event. But it’s not the automatic ‘magic bullet’ cure for post-school anxieties, indecisions, aspirations and needs that some students might think it to be. So, it is vital students and their parents are provided with accurate and easily accessible information to make their decisions,” said project lead, Dr Samantha McMahon from the Sydney School of Education and Social Work.