Two decades after it opened its doors, almost 1000 alumni turned out to celebrate Bond University’s 20th anniversary last month.

Travelling from Western Australia for the festivities, inaugural vice-chancellor Emeritus Professor Don Watts reflected on the challenges of setting up Australia’s first not-for-profit private university.

This week we launched our new television ad and website.

Students at Bond University’s newest Masters Degree may never lace-up a boot or crouch on starting blocks but they could still influence Australia’s Olympic standing, capture the AFL Premiership or better the nation’s Football World Cup record.

Bond University’s Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine recently launched its Masters of High Performance Science degree.

Our Dean of Health Sciences and Medicine Faculty has flown to Geneva to participate in World Health Organisation (WHO) discussions concerning the outbreak of swine flu.

Prof Del Mar is one of 10 experts selected from around the globe who will sit down to discuss guidelines for the industry for the pandemic. He is the only Australian-based expert who has been invited.

Prof Del Mar is part of a long list of Bond academics regarded as leaders in their chosen fields. He previously contributed to high-level WHO meetings held to discuss similar protocols for the avian flu.

Australia, and even the Gold Coast, has been exposed to swine flu. The state’s first dedicated swine flu treatment centre was set up just down the road at Robina Hospital.

Prof Del Mar’s selection on the working group is acknowledgment of his dedication, knowledge and value within the health industry. The health industry and wider community will be very interested to discover the outcomes of the WHO summit.

Mixing family and business can be a challenge in itself, dealing with siblings and technologically-challenged parents.

And when times turn tough, family-run operations can be affected differently to non-family businesses.

Hong Kong-based Dr Hari and Padma Harilela have been announced as Bond University’s latest benefactors on the back of our 20th anniversary celebrations last month.

The couple has donated $1 million which will go into Bond University’s endowment pool for a scholarship to be called the Dr Hari and Padma Harilela Scholarship.

Showing up to plead your case in medieval garb is arguably contempt of court.

But for Bond University’s Law students, it was all part of their defense during a road show throughout Beenleigh, Ipswich, Southport and Brisbane magistrate’s courts in May.

Over almost 20 years, the John Burton Journalism Cadetship Scholarship has been the catalyst for many high-flying media careers.

When it was first introduced in 1990, the concept of alternating on-campus study semesters with on-the-job training as a cadet journalist at the Gold Coast Bulletin was an Australian first for Bond University.

Read Deanna Nott's Story