Peninsula milestones

The Peninsula campus has experienced two significant milestones this year – reaching 50 years providing quality education and graduating its first group of Bachelor of Physiotherapy students.

The Peninsula campus was established in 1958 when the Department of Education responded to the increasing demand for teachers. With 109 students and one original building, Struan House, the Frankston Teachers' College opened its doors.

Three decades later in 1990, the college, which had already experienced mergers, became the Peninsula campus of Monash University with courses from its historic roots in Early Childhood and Primary Education being the main stay.

To celebrate the campus's 50th anniversary, past and present staff and students were asked to contribute mementos to a time capsule that was sealed recently to be reopened in 2058.

A range of items have been added including a letter from the Vice Chancellor, a copy of the campus history Still Learning that was commissioned to coincide with the campus celebrations, a USB stick, DVDs, course guides and photographs.

Over the years the campus has developed into a thriving institution with a range of courses focussing on health and wellbeing including the Bachelor of Physiotherapy that took its first cohort of students in 2005.

This year that foundation group of Monash Physiotherapy students will graduate from the degree taking the campus, the Faculty of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences and Monash to a new level in health education excellence.

Head of Physiotherapy Professor Jenny Keating congratulated the students on their achievement of first Monash Physiotherapy graduates.

"Staff are proud of the achievements of our graduates," she said. "They have worked hard to develop extensive practice in musculoskeletal, neurological and cardiorespiratory sciences, at the same time engaging in interprofessional learning, paediatric and rural practice.

"As well as their theoretical and practical skills, students have gained enabling research skills that position them for best practice across the spectrum of workplace challenges they will face as qualified physiotherapists.

"While the development and concurrent roll-out of a progressive Bachelor of Physiotherapy with an embedded Honours option has been challenging, the determination and hard work by staff, students and clinical educators has resulted in outcomes that make us all feel proud," Professor Keating added.

This month the program also achieved the important award of course accreditation from the Australian Physiotherapy Council, a recognition that enables full primary practitioner rights for Monash graduates.

"We celebrate as our students become our professional colleagues and take their carefully nurtured skills into the workplace, flying the flag of our innovative Monash curriculum."