Over the past few weeks, the General Manager of International Admissions, Brett Walker, and I have visited a number of universities and agents in South America and the United States. It was pleasing to see increasing interest in our University from these areas. During our extensive visits, we were able to build upon existing relationships and create new ones, continuing to foster Bond’s growing international network of alliances and exchange links around the world.

I am also pleased to report that we have recently received top awards in the sustainability and architecture industries for two of our university buildings. The Mirvac School of Sustainable Development building won first prize in the Sustainability in the Built Environment category at the 2009 Queensland Sustainable Industries Awards earlier this month. The building also won the Sustainable Architecture Award at this year's Australian Institute of Architects State Awards and the Balnaves Foundation Multimedia Learning Centre took out the GHM Addison Award for Interior Architecture. These prestigious awards confirm our commitment to providing state-of-the-art facilities for our students and staff while also reinforcing the University’s stance as a world-class institution.

Furthermore, I would like congratulate our Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Team who received a number of awards in the recent SIFE Environmental Sustainability National Competition. The team won first place of CSIRO’s Environmental Sustainability Grant Program for GrassRoots, a toolkit which allows businesses to understand and assess the impact of their energy usage on the environment. Well done indeed.

Professor Robert Stable
Vice-Chancellor and President