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Wednesday, 20 May 2015

When US President John Kennedy famously asked Americans what they could do for their country, he tapped into an impulse in students to serve – and the Peace Corps was born. Across the world’s great University campuses a new form of experiential education, service learning, is now gaining momentum, blending the vision of creating better communities with the aim of advancing students’ skills. UWA has embedded service learning in the curriculum and the proposed McCusker Centre for Citizenship will coordinate, sustain and expand it.


UWA students and graduates have long been encouraged to help shape a better world, with the impulse to ‘give-back’ taking root early: the annual University Camp for Kids is one of Perth’s longest-running charities, and student volunteers continue to contribute to our community in areas as diverse as legal advice and endangered species protection.


The December announcement that the McCusker Charitable Foundation will contribute $5 million to establish the McCusker Centre for Citizenship will significantly advance opportunities for students to contribute through service learning at this University.


The Centre will be the first of its kind in Australia and will be modelled on the Haas Centre for Public Service at Stanford University. All four Trustees of the Foundation – former WA Governor Malcolm McCusker, his sister Carolyn McCusker, wife Tonya McCusker, and Justice James Edelman – are UWA Law graduates who wish to ‘give back’ to the University and who support the notion that community service should be counted among a student’s commitments.


Mrs Tonya McCusker says the Trustees felt that contributing to the UWA New Century Campaign was a ‘thank you’ to UWA for their world-class education. “The proposed centre will build on existing philanthropic and volunteering programs to ensure that students leave their tertiary studies with more than just an academic transcript, but with a sense of responsibility to give back to our community and those in need,” she adds.


As this University commits to service learning, Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Johnson observes that in being counted among the world’s top 100 universities, UWA had a responsibility to give back to the community that has supported it for more than a century. He expresses the hope that, through the McCusker Centre, citizenship will be a defining characteristic of UWA graduates.


“Service learning provides students with the opportunity to put their skills and knowledge into practice, to become community champions throughout their lives. In this way we are building social responsibility into the fabric of the State,” he says.


Professor Grady Venville, Dean of Coursework Studies, sees reciprocity as the key to service learning. “The proposed centre will support the growing global trend towards social responsibility and social entrepreneurship by providing students with practical educational opportunities and collaborations with community organisations. It also seeds an appreciation of the social benefits and personal rewards of involvement with not-for-profit (NFP) programs,” she says.


Having orchestrated a range of student volunteering opportunities through Guild Volunteering, UWA graduate Aden Date was the obvious choice for taking on the job of Project Officer for Service Learning.


“The service learning program operates within the framework of civic responsibility,” explains the graduate. “For instance one unit sees students working with Department of Parks and Wildlife’s scientists in saving endangered species while another sees population health students travelling to Karnataka, India, to undertake a project to improve the health of rural communities.”


The Faculty of Medicine is in the process of establishing service learning as a core offering within the MD’s Scholarly Activity stream. Associate Professor of Medical Education Denese Playford says: “As doctors, graduates will be well placed to offer service to not-for-profits and to set up their own ventures.”


That’s already happening:  Fair Game was established by 2014 Young Australian of the Year Dr John van Bockxmeer (UNIVIEW Spring 2014) and True Blue Dreaming by 2001 Young Australian of the Year James Fitzpatrick, now a researcher at the UWA affiliated Telethon Kids Institute.


Both of these NFPs are working to create healthier remote communities and they were established when the two graduates were medical students – so it’s good to know the McCusker Centre is promising support for student start-ups. Dr von Bockxmeer also launched the Global Shapers Hub with the UWA Business School, an initiative that saw Business School students paired with Deloitte mentors to provide business services to NFPs in Perth.


Professor Playford says NFPs have been overwhelmingly positive about having medical students working with them.


“We’ve already approached more than 100 organisations and the faculty welcomes discussion with any health-related organisations interested in engaging with our students,” she says. “We’re also looking for portfolio advisors/assessors to mentor students to develop their understanding of working with NFPs – and they will become a valued part of a student’s educational experience.”


Aden Date, a graduate of the Centre for Social Impact in UWA’s Business School, says UWA is establishing best practice standards by having a single point of contact for community partners and establishing groundwork policies to ensure the program has the academic rigour that characterises the best units in the US.


“At present we’re engaged with more than 100 not-for-profits and have a network of supporters that includes State Government departments such as the Department of Sport and Recreation,” he says.


This University currently offers 31 service learning units, with more in the pipeline as faculties modify existing units to encompass this element of student engagement.


Already the benefits are clear to students. Fogarty scholar Jasmin Sekhon completed a service learning unit last year, working with The Hunger Project, a global NFP, in India. She witnessed the empowerment of a young Indian woman who, with the Project’s training, went on to open three schools and mount an education program to stop child marriages. “This unit inspired me, it changed my life,” she says.


That’s just what those delivering service learning – and McCusker Centre trustees – want to hear. Future initiatives through the Centre will include a leadership program, travel scholarships and internships, a faculty fellows program and a faculty professional development fund.


“You’re seeing pockets of Service Learning develop all over campus,” says the enthusiastic Aden Date. “The momentum is all in the right direction. Build it, and they will come.”



Photo:  UWA Law graduates and McCusker Foundation Trustees Malcolm McCusker,  Tonya McCusker, Carolyn McCusker and Justice James Edelman (far right)  Aden Date (far left) and UWA student Jasmin Sekhon, who completed a  service learning unit last year. (Photo: The West Australian )


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