A record number of Indigenous high school students have experienced university for the first time, graduating from UNSW's Nura Gili Winter School Program.

This year's intake was 165 - the largest to date for the week-long residential pre-university program that assists Indigenous students from years 10, 11 and 12 to prepare for tertiary study. Now in its ninth year, the program began in 2002 with a group of six students.

Global investment bank UBS, a founding partner of the Nura Gili Indigenous Programs Centre, has invested $1 million over four years to support the preparation program, which is now the largest of its kind in Australia.

Students travel from remote and rural areas to attend the Winter School, where they are introduced to their chosen discipline: Business, Built Environment, Fine Arts, Engineering, Law, Medicine, Indigenous Studies, Social Work, Education, Performing Arts or Science.

The students are selected based on their community involvement, commitment to education, future aspirations and school recommendation.

The Winter School has a demonstrated success rate with a high percentage of its graduates going on to participate in higher education.

Megan Davis, who was recently elected to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples, addressed the Winter School's formal dinner. The Director of UNSW's Indigenous Law Centre, Ms Davis is the first Australian Indigenous woman to be elected to a UN body.

Contact: Fran Strachan | UNSW Media Office | 9385 8732