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The nature of UWA's new professional programs will almost certainly be shaped by the students who graduate from the new undergraduate courses.

Teaching staff heard during Teaching and Learning Month from The University of Melbourne's Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Pip Pattison, about the impact of their new undergraduate courses on the postgraduate courses and how they were taught.

Professor Pattison, who was responsible for implementation of the Melbourne Model curriculum, was the speaker at a Distinguished Visiting Teacher Public Seminar during Teaching and Learning Month, which followed the theme of Experiencing New Courses .

Winthrop Professor Denise Chalmers, Director of UWA 's Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, said Professor Pattison's experiences were most interesting.

"The students starting the postgraduate courses in Melbourne such as medicine, engineering and architecture, are older and more experienced than the school leavers who used to make up the majority of the first year classes," Professor Chalmers said.

"They have more skills, have made deliberate choices and are able to deal with topics in depth.

"We need to be very cognisant of this while planning our postgraduate course work.

"The introductory content might still be the same, but the students will be more sophisticated learners, with higher expectations, which makes it more challenging for teachers.

" She said some faculties, such as the Business School, had already learned this, with courses including the MBA. "And we can learn from those experiences, but when it comes to courses like Engineering, it's quite a different matter.

"Professor Pattison told the audience that the teachers at Melbourne are enjoying teaching these classes and New Courses breeding a new generation of first year students some had taken the opportunity of changing the curriculum to create more holistic courses."

At the awards night for UWA 's Excellence in Teaching Awards, the guest speaker, Kerry Sanderson, said that Western Australia must get out and promote its education and research alongside its mining and business opportunities. Ms Sanderson has just completed three years as WA 's Agent- General in London, after a long term as CEO of Fremantle Ports.

This year's UWA Awards for Excellence went to: Paul Lloyd at the Business School and Malcolm Fialho in Equity and Diversity for excellence in provision of support to students; Professor Jane Heyworth at the Faculty of Medicine Dentistry and Health Sciences, for excellence in teaching; Assistant Professor Ambelin Kwaymullina at the Law School for excellence in an early teaching career; and to Fiona Crowe and Katie Parsons at St Catherine's College, for excellence in contributions to student learning.

St Catherine's is the first university residential college to receive an Excellence in Teaching award.

It has a comprehensive suite of service learning programs, skills development programs, cross-cultural learning initiatives and targeted academic tutorials, and inspires its students to seek academic excellence and apply their learning to address local, national and global issues during their degree.

Students are encouraged to identify areas of need they feel strongly about and translate this concern into practical experience. Some of the organisations St Catherine's are partnering with in 2012 include Hollywood Hospital, Riding for the Disabled, Ronald MacDonald House, Halls Creek District High School, Radio Lollypop, Cottesloe Coastcare, the Shenton Cat Haven and the UN Young Women Association.

The Head of St Catherine's College, Fiona Crowe, is often quoted encouraging students to, "never let your studies interfere with your education".

Published in UWA News , 28 May 2012