Study News

This week St Stephen’s College transitioned a study tour with Showa High School in Japan into an online experience as the result of Australia’s current international border closure. Traditionally the Japanese students would visit the Gold Coast for a week to gain what Sam Holmes, the school’s Executive Director of International Education, calls ‘a taste of St Stephen’s’.

The partnership between the two schools began four years ago and has expanded over that time to now include similar relationships between Showa and several other South East Queensland schools. All up 100 students were due to visit Queensland this year through the arrangement, with double that number scheduled by 2023.

As the number of students participating in the study tours has grown exponentially, so too have the long-term enrolments from Japanese students - and then COVID-19 changed everything. Working with Australian International Student Tours CEO Tanya Ferguson, the team at St Stephen’s College devised an online version of the program by condensing the experience into two days.

TAFE Queensland Event Management students have used their newfound skills to help local children doing it tough over the holiday season by raising more than two thousand dollars for a local Gold Coast charity, Paradise Kids.

While COVID-19 put a stop to most face-to-face events throughout the year, the students were undeterred and pressed forward with their plans to organise and execute a successful fundraising event for the charity as part of their final assessment.

Twenty-four-year-old student, Chantelle Burkin spent six months working virtually with her team mates on their ‘Neverland’ concept and said it was all worthwhile when they were able to finally host the event.

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.”

Students from the Queensland Academy of Health Sciences (QAHS) on the Gold Coast have developed a series of scientific concepts focussed on marine biodiversity, pitching their ideas to an esteemed panel including Dr Alan Finkel, Australia’s Chief Scientist, along with scientists from Griffith University and Nigeria’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

One of the project teams looked at more efficient processes of desalination, a pertinent issue locally with the Gold Coast's desalination plant. Sarah Rao, one of the students working on that project says: “If we could create a more efficient means of purification and implement it here successfully we could then export the concept to other parts of the world.”

Merrimac State High School is nurturing the digital minds of tomorrow through its STEAM (Science, Technology, Enterprise, Arts and Maths) Academy in robotics and artificial intelligence by preparing their students for a technological world through a comprehensive technology program.

The Academy, led by former software engineer Daniel Ricardo and supported by Merrimac State High School’s leadership team, was launched 5 years ago after identifying limiting opportunities for students to engage in the fields of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. In establishing the program Daniel Ricardo eplains Merrimac’s thinking: “We looked around at what other schools were doing and made a commitment to give our students the opportunity to explore technological concepts through practical applications and develop their digital skills to better prepare them for the world beyond school.”

It’s every extrovert’s worst nightmare – two weeks locked up in isolation. But for 20 year-old student Stephanie White, the prospect of a fortnight spent completely alone wasn’t enough to keep her away from the Gold Coast – with the help of yoga, Netflix, Bond University friends and FaceTime calls from grandma. Not to mention the prospect of enjoying the sunny Gold Coast for her first meal out of lockdown since May.

Ms White, who is completing a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Psychological Science, returned to campus at Bond for its third trimester, while observing social distancing and public health restrictions after spending the past few months locked down in Melbourne.

A Gold Coast high school has invited its students to design a new facility in the school, giving them direct input into shaping the early learning experience for future students. Year 11 Design and Innovation students at Saint Stephen’s College were asked to create a design to redevelop the school’s Early Learning Centre play area. The students worked in teams utilising CAD (computer aided design) modelling and the latest thinking in early childhood playground concepts.

The design students taking up the challenge were Alani Perkins (main photo), Brock Cameron, Camryn Voerman, Jessica Craft and Zoe Hood, with each visiting the ELC site before consulting with stakeholders, including Saint Stephen’s College Principal Kim Cohen and ELC Director Kellie Solomons to ensure their concepts met the project’s design criteria. Their plans also had to meet all safety requirements for an early learning centre.