In August 2020 a group of Japanese students from Hashimoto High School in the Kanagawa Prefecture were due to visit Australia for an international study exchange with Trinity Lutheran College through Study Gold Coast. As the year unfolded and it became increasingly clear that international travel wouldn’t be possible the program was totally rebuilt as a virtual experience.

By October the first virtual class was underway with an introduction to the program and an English language lesson for the Japanese students. Later sessions included virtual experiences with the Gold Coast Student Hub and the Home of the Arts (HOTA), as well as a tour through a homestay family’s home and a visit to the Gold Coast City Council Chambers with a presentation from the Mayor’s Office. 

Bond University is launching the world’s first climate law degree for undergraduate students who want to fix the system from the inside.

The university’s Faculty of Law took its cue to develop the new Bachelor of Laws (LLB) in Climate Law from the hundreds of thousands of students who protested to demand action on climate change during 2018 and 2019.

Executive Dean of the Faculty, Professor Nick James, said COVID-19 had temporarily taken the focus off climate change but “there are still many young people out there who are passionate about doing something to help heal the planet.”

“My sense is that concern among high school students and young people hasn't gone away and that they are energised and keen to learn more about the issue and how to do something about it,” Professor James said.

In 2017 Xuanle Hao left Guilin, a small city in southern China to undertake a Bachelor of Business Degree in Sydney. Xuanle now wishes that she’d just come straight to the Gold Coast instead.

“During those three years I was in Sydney I spent virtually all my time either at university or living in my apartment. I was living and studying in the western suburbs and it would take me hours to get to the city or the beach. Sydney was too big and impersonal for me as a city, I never really felt connected with the student community or anyone else there”, she says.

“The Gold Coast appealed to me for a number of reasons. Studying at a regional destination meant I would qualify for the three-year post study work visa, but more than that I felt that there would definitely be more work opportunities in my field given the city’s strong construction industry. I majored in Property with my Business Degree, so the course at Bond was a good fit for me.”