The Thistle - An E-Newsletter of Scotch College, Perth, Western Australia

UWA Business School

In a new and interesting initiative, all Year 10 Scotch boys were invited to spend the morning at the UWA School of Business. Since many Scotch boys choose to study commerce subjects in Year 11 and 12 before continuing this pathway in university, the Scotch Commerce Department reached out to UWA to form a partnership. The purpose of the morning was to provide our boys with insight into the many and varied opportunities a business graduate has access to post tertiary education. The UWA School of Business boasts flexible degree structures, high quality facilities that provide practical experience and progressive curriculum that meets the needs of an evolving industry as automation replaces repetitious work. 

The Dean of the Business School explained that although automation may be replacing repetitive jobs, this is actually a positive for their profession since there is still a high demand for commerce skilled employees, however the focus of their work is more interesting as they are expected to draw upon problem solving, communication, innovative thinking and entrepreneurial skills in order to be successful.  One major point made throughout the presentation was that understanding and using 'Big Data' was increasingly becoming a critical aspect of all business degrees and is assisting both micro and macro economists to make more informed decisions. Therefore, students need to enter university with strong mathematical knowledge and a capacity to read and interpret statistics. After the initial presentation the boys rotated through four lectures; business management and discrimination, economic theory, understanding trading and the impact of blockchains. 

With the new Commerce and Mathematics building close to completion, these Year 10 students will have the opportunity to be a part of their own business school. The classrooms have been carefully designed to emulate a business feel while incorporating state of the art technology so that students gain practical, real-world experience whilst learning commerce theory. Features such as flexible learning spaces, lecture theatres and student collaborative office spaces will inspire the boys to enhance their skills required to be successful in the business world.  Additionally, commerce has deliberately been combined with mathematics and is an equally impressive space inspired with geometrical shapes, circle geometry and number theory on walls and floors throughout. It's exciting to be able to provide facilities that will ultimately help transition the boys successfully from school to post-secondary pathways.