With the rising incidence of nutrition-related chronic disease in Australia, dietitians have a growing role to play in health service provision. Dietetic workforce numbers are growing, with increasing numbers of graduates nationally,2 and there are 15 universities with dietetic programmes currently accredited by the Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA).3 In order to meet the nutrition needs of the population, university curricula, including professional placement, need to be designed to enable students to develop the complex blend of knowledge, skills and attitudes required by the National Competency Standards.4 Research to assess how successfully this has been achieved needs to be conducted and published so that our profession can continue to develop.