THE UCT Health Sciences Faculty's new Learning Centre will be officially launched on the May 30 by Minister of Education, Professor Kader Asmal. According to Professor Trevor Gibbs, Director of the Education Development Unit (EDU), the Centre caters perfectly for the needs of the new curriculum that is being implemented in the Faculty.

"The Centre is part of the move towards a curriculum change, which is the move towards a different style of learning involving small groups as opposed to large lecture theatre format. We needed a centre with at least 20 small tutorial rooms surrounding a lecture theatre."

A 500-seat underutilised auditorium that was attached to the Anatomy Building was converted into the new Learning Centre. This has four floors and houses five 20-seater computer laboratories, 20 tutorial rooms and a large state-of-the-art lecture theatre. The facility will be ready for use in July. The bright, multi-coloured centre has been in operation since the beginning of the year and feedback from students and lecturers has been positive.

"We hope that as we settle in, we can use it for postgraduate activities at night because it is ideally situated.

"It is a very versatile centre and once the lecture theatre has been completed, it will be one of the foremost learning centres on the whole Campus. We hope that it will not just be used by the Medical Faculty, but by the whole of UCT," adds Gibbs.

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