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UKCME Student Essay Competition: 'What makes the best learning experience for a materials student?'

We would like to thank everyone who took part in the competition for this academic year, and are pleased to announce that:

  • the Winning essay was from Elly Jay, a 1st year undergraduate at Imperial College London

  • the Runner-Up essay was from Patricia McAfee, a 3rd year undergraduate at Queens University Belfast.


The aim of the competition was:

  • to highlight good practice in the topic area ‘What makes the best learning experience for a materials student?’, and;
  • to motivate students to think about how they learn.

The competition was open to all UK undergraduate students studying materials, who were required to write a 500 to 1,000 word essay on the above topic area:

  • Providing an individual and honest account of the experiences of learning the subject of materials
  • Giving the reader an overview of the factors that comprise 'good learning experiences'
  • Including examples of good and/or innovative teaching, learning and assessment methods.

Elly’s winning entry has now gone forward into a national student award for undergraduates from all disciplines, run by the Higher Education Academy. The overall national winner will be presented with their award at the Higher Education Academy Conference in June 2005.