Snjezana Bilic

Teaching Strengths

Enabling pedagogies
Social Justice in Education
Pedagogies of hope

Dr Snjezana Bilic

Senior Lecturer

AU Pathways and Participation

Academic

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD (as Co-Supervisor) - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Available For Media Comment.


I research and teach in the areas of sociology, human rights and refugee education. I have a deep concern for issues related to education and justice which led me to working within the enabling education field and this informs my teaching approaches. I am committed to widening participation strategies and work to improve social inclusion and build strong educational initiatives that support student aspirations and their successful transition into higher education. My specific research interests include developing best practice approaches for teaching in super-diverse classroom. I am interested in making more visible the perspectives of culturally and linguistically students as well as refugee-background students who undertake enabling courses; in 2022 I have won Education Research Fellowship with Dr Heidi Hetz, to pursue this research further. I am a lead academic in UniSA College Refugee Student Support group (see ‘UniSA Student Refugees’ journey to peace’ story on p.5) and I am committed to the provision of supports for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and students of refugee backgrounds (SfRBs) and their educators. I am a co-convenor of Culturally and Lingustically Diverse Student Support SIG for the National Association of Enabling Eductors of Australia (NAEEA). I have also delivered intensive preparatory courses providing educational pathways to women who have experienced homelessness and I am passionate about advancing educational initiatives for this vulnerable group of students (see 'Learner of the year' story). This program has been featured in UniSA news and other publications. My co-leadership with Mrs Tamra Ulpen and Dr Anthea Fudge 'for the development of supportive resources to enhance student learning of Academic Integrity (AI) in enabling education' was recognised by UniSA Award for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning in 2018. These initiatives have received national recognition and were awarded with 2019 Australian Award for University Teaching.

Research Projects

2025: Language learning strategies of refugee-background students in university pathway programs 

Chief Investigator with Dr Heidi Hetz and Dr Min Pham (UniSA) and Dr Noraisha Oyama and Zeyad Khalifa (Murdoch University)

2025: Student reading strategies in university pathway programs: A cross-sectional study

Chief Investigator with Dr Min Pham and Dr Heidi Hetz

2022- current 'Developing best practice approaches for teaching and supporting students from refugee backgrounds in higher education' 

Chief Investigator with Dr Heidi Hetz

2019 (Fostering Integration Grant) Building the capacity of students from refugee background and cultural competencies necessary to transition and succeed in higher education

Chief Investigator with Prof Dierdre Tedmanson and Ms Teresa Thai

2017

Project title: Engaging the disengaged and disenfranchised: 20 years on from ‘dropping out and drifting off’, to ‘turning back around’’

Chief Investigator with Dr Sarah Hattam and Ms Jennifer Stokes

2016

Project title: “Exploring 'sense of belonging' in culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) students at UNiSA College” 

Chief Investigator

Year Citation
2025 Bilic, S., Hetz, H., & Allain, D. (2025). 'It makes you feel like you're at home, you're safe, you're happy in here': enacting culturally responsive and enabling pedagogies with refugee students in a university pathway program. Australian Educational Researcher, 52(2), 1617-1635.
DOI
2023 McHendrie, T., Zufferey, C., Bilic, S., & Loeser, C. (2023). Unruly female spectators at the Melbourne Cup in Australia: media discourses about women and alcohol consumption. Feminist Media Studies, 23(6), 2576-2591.
DOI Scopus3 WoS4
2023 Bilic, S., & Thai, T. (2023). 'One day I will make it to university': students from refugee backgrounds in university pathway programs. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 22(4), 217-241.
DOI
2022 Smith, T. L., Zufferey, C., Bilic, S., & Loeser, C. (2022). Questioning policy representations of women's alcohol consumption: implications for social work. Qualitative Social Work, 21(4), 731-747.
DOI Scopus7 WoS5
2022 Fudge, A., Ulpen, T., Bilic, S., Picard, M., & Carter, C. (2022). Does an educative approach work? A reflective case study of how two Australian higher education Enabling programs support students and staff uphold a responsible culture of academic integrity. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 18(5), 1-20.
DOI
2019 Bilic, S., & Hattam, S. K. (2019). 'I can be powerful as an individual agent': Experiences of recently homeless women in an enabling program, transformative pedagogies and spaces of empowerment in higher education. International studies in widening participation, 6(1), 65-79.
2017 Bilic, S. (2017). On rights and dialogue: minority culture women's lives in diaspora. Journal of developing areas, 51(2), 427-433.
DOI
2013 Bilic, S. (2013). On gendered conceptions of human rights and culturally diverse feminisms. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies, 7(4), 11-26.

Courses I teach

  • HUMS 1062 Individual and Society in Contemporary Australia (2025)
  • HUMS 1064 Global Citizenship in the 21st Century (2025)
  • LANG 1068 Critical Thinking: Media and Academia (2025)
  • HUMS 1062 Individual and Society in Contemporary Australia (2024)
  • HUMS 1064 Global Citizenship in the 21st Century (2024)
  • SCUCO 90001 Introduction to Global Issues and Identities SC (2024)

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2024 Co-Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Carolyn Jane Mccosh

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