About: Roberta Sykes Indigenous Education Foundation and Aurora Integration

The Roberta Sykes Indigenous Education Foundation (RSIEF) has integrated its Scholarship and Bursaries into the Aurora Education Foundation (Aurora) suite of programs. This restructure, driven by a collective mission to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to realise their full education potential, will see Aurora and RSIEF combine by RSIEF dissolving as a separate organisation.

As a volunteer-run organisation, RSIEF recognised the value and opportunities that would come from working more closely with Aurora as a single organisation. Aurora’s experience collaborating with RSIEF and successfully operating its own programs for more than a decade demonstrates a continued ability to work with community, deliver meaningful outcomes through support of Indigenous students, and capitalise on opportunities for funding. This experience will contribute to the sustained impact and potential of the RSIEF Programs under the Aurora umbrella. With Aurora operating as an Indigenous organisation, it was also a natural evolution of RSIEF to become Indigenous owned and managed.

As part of the restructure, Aurora is tasked with continuing to preserve and celebrate the Roberta Sykes Legacy. In doing so, Aurora will remain innovative and adaptive in creating opportunities for Indigenous students to undertake post-graduate scholarships at leading overseas universities, and ensure that this experience contributes to tangible development opportunities for students on their return home.