Mean Field Weighted Citation Impact of Monash Outputs: 2.55
Number of Monash Research Outputs: 71
Investing in Women commissioned staff from CDES at Monash University in 2021 to carry out research on the economic relief measures put in place during the pandemic. Governments, donor agencies, and development finance institutions developed fiscal and economic stimulus packages to support businesses impacted by the pandemic. With a strong focus on easing liquidity constraints, these measures have included: wage support, tax relief, debt moratoriums, loan guarantees, direct lending, grants, subsidies, policy reforms, and various other responses.
In 2021, 60 units directly related to SDG1 were offered across Monash University, with a total enrolment of 3,292 students.
The units highlighted below are a small sample of the units at Monash relating to poverty:
The Master of International Development Practice course empowers students to tackle the political, economic, cultural and ecological challenges leading to extreme poverty, poor health, fragile governance, inequality and environmental vulnerability. All of these issues require professionals with the practical skills and analytical capacity to build resilience at a national and community level.
Delivered by specialists from the humanities, social sciences, medicine, business and economics, education and law, the course offers a multi-disciplinary approach to sustainable development with six streams: Democracy, justice and governance; Gender, peace and security; Global Migration, Crisis, change management and leadership; Sustainable economies and Sustainable resource management.
The Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability (CDES) unites researchers who are interested in the business, economic and social problems affecting the developing world and the environment and sustainability more broadly.
In 2021, CDES hosted workshops with global experts to address the huge economic and social ramifications of the pandemic and the priorities for the evolving policy response, especially in, but not limited to, developing countries. Topics covered included exploring the economic and health sector response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and why COVID-19 is creating an unequal global recovery. In addition Monash hosted Nobel Laureate Economist Professor Ester Duflo, who shared lessons learned on preventative health behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Throughout 2021, Monash saw an increasing need to support students as a result of continued stress caused by COVID-19 including lockdowns and loss of employment. Emergency grant payments totalling $306,000 were provided to 630 students, with $297,000 of this assistance provided in emergency payments directly to the students’ bank accounts, and $9000 consisted of food vouchers and payments for emergency accommodation. Our generous Monash alumni contributed more than $30,000 of this assistance as part of donation appeals.
Monash recognises that social and environmental determinants can contribute to inequities in accessing higher education, and offers three targeted Entry Schemes to support talented students whose academic outcomes may have been impaired by difficult life circumstances. These offerings continued in 2020-21, and expanded eligibility criteria this biennium saw an increase in offerings for the Indigenous Entry Scheme, Special Entry Access Scheme (SEAS) (offered to 1037 and 1677 students in 2020 and 2021 respectively).
Access and participation rates for students from low SES backgrounds increased to 28.4% in 2021 from 28% in 2020 in undergraduate study, and from to 27.2% in 2021 from 26.4% in 2020 in postgraduate study.