International travel back on the menu

Bond tops educational experience for another year

Bond University has the best educational experience of any comprehensive university in Australia according to the Good Universities Guide 2023. This marks the 17th year that Bond has dominated the rankings.

Bond tops all six undergraduate categories of educational experience: learner engagement, learning resources, skills development, student support, teaching quality, and overall educational experience. Bond also has the lowest studentto-teacher ratio of 11:1.

The federal government’s annual Student Experience Survey also ranked Bond’s educational experience Australia’s best in three of six categories: student support (91 per cent positive), learning resources (93.5 per cent positive) and learner engagement (83.1 per cent positive; national average 47.9 per cent).

The University was second in Australia and best in Queensland in the remaining three categories: skills development (90.6 per cent positive), teaching quality (90.1 per cent positive) and quality of entire educational experience (86.6 per cent positive).

‘Surfing Professor’ was a passionate student of the ocean

Emeritus Professor Neville de Mestre will be remembered as ‘the surfing professor’, whose lifelong love of the ocean led him to publish a scientific paper on bodysurfing. The gifted mathematician and sportsman died earlier this year aged 83. Professor De Mestre joined Bond University at its opening in 1989 and served until his retirement in 2004.

Professor de Mestre studied a Bachelor of Science (Hons) and a Graduate Diploma of Education at Sydney University, becoming a maths teacher at the Royal Military College at Duntroon. He received a Master of Science at the University of Western Australia and in 1973 gained his PhD at Cambridge.

After more than 20 years at Duntroon and the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra he joined Bond University where, through his research into sports science, he developed a surf hazard rating system later adopted by Surf Life Saving Australia. His algebraic formula to help bodysurfers find the perfect wave led him to publish the world’s first scientific paper on bodysurfing and a book.

Professor de Mestre was married to Margaret for 60 years and is survived by daughters Nicole, Simone and Justine, and grandchildren Emmi, Tali and Saxon.

International travel back on the menu as Bondies chase poutine dream

International adventures are back on the menu for Bondies as student exchange programs resume after a Covid-driven hiatus. For Hayden Bygott and James Frizelle it’s the chance to finally make a reality of their poutine-inspired pipedream.

The pair, both studying a Bachelor of Laws/Commerce, along with Efa Mullin, studying a Bachelor of Business/ International Relations, are among the first students to take part in Bond’s exchange program since 2019 and will spend the next semester in Canada at Western University.

In 2020, exchange programs around the world were thrown into turmoil due to Covid-19 and related travel bans. This September, 16 Bond University students packed their bags for countries including Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Mr Frizelle says he and Mr Bygott are keen to sharpen up their snowboarding skills while expanding their educational horizons.

The pair are part of The Cowin Scholars Program, made possible thanks to the generous donation of Western University Alumnus and former Chancellor, Jack Cowin. The Cowin Scholars Program paves the way for life-changing exchange experiences between Bond and Western students and academics, fostering an international network between the two institutions.

Above: Bond University students (L-R) James Frizelle and Hayden Bygott.

The Bond community weaving group’s work on display at SWELL Sculpture Festival.

Spinning yarns and weaving an artwork of healing

A group of novice weavers made a splash at the SWELL Sculpture Festival, with their work included in one of the largescale sculptures displayed as part of the Currumbin Beach festival in September.

They were part of a monthly community weaving group at Bond University run by First Nations artist Desert-Rain Magpie. The group, made up of around 25 first-time weavers as well as skilled craftspeople, began working on the piece in November last year, meeting behind the Abedian School of Architecture each month to practice the ancient art of weaving.

The piece represents the non-linear journey of healing, says Ms Magpie, who teaches weaving to the community as part of her work providing arts and cultural services. The art of weaving has been practiced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for generations and can strengthen cultural identity and improve mental health, she says.

“Any activity that involves repetitive movements, works to relax our sympathetic nervous system. The physical things people will notice when weaving are that their shoulders will drop, their breathing will slow, their heart rate will slow, and their eyes will soften.

“When you sit, talk and connect with other people, very quickly the things that are worrying you bubble up to the surface. Weaving acts as a bit of a social lubricant. It’s similar in the way people might go to the pub together and drink alcohol, only weaving is much healthier for you and you’ve got something to show for it at the end.”

The weaving group includes 12 local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who take part and help teach the newcomers.

“Many of them travel to remote communities, so in a way we are connected here on the Gold Coast, but then that connection spreads out all over the country,” says Ms Magpie.

The Bond Community Indigenous Weaving Group is one of the many ways the University celebrates Indigenous culture and knowledge and is part of Bond’s Reconciliation Action Plan.

When you sit, talk and connect with other people, very quickly, the things that are worrying you bubble up to the surface. Weaving acts as a bit of a social lubricant.