Celebrating more than 25 years as one of Australia’s leading business education institutions, Bond University’s Faculty of Business has been repositioned and relaunched as the ‘Bond Business School’.
The new positioning builds on the Faculty’s historical connection with the business community and signals an intensified focus on blurring the lines between the boardroom and the classroom.
“This change to become the Bond Business School acknowledges that we put as much focus on the ‘business’ as we do on the ‘school’,” said Bond Business School Executive Dean, Professor Mark Hirst.
“We’ve created a uniquely immersive learning environment where entrepreneurs and senior executives come into the classroom to work with students on real case studies and business challenges.
“The learning experience then goes out to the workplace where internships and capstone projects are recognised as subject units that count towards a student’s degree.”
Centred on three key pillars of entrepreneurship, quantitative skills and internationalisation, Bond Business School will also build on the Faculty’s reputation for innovation as evidenced by the launch of Queensland’s first Actuarial Science programs and the new Centre for Actuarial and Financial Big Data Analytics earlier this year.
From January next year [2016], the School will introduce the new Business Model Generation and Business Model Execution subjects which will expose every undergraduate student to the experience of creating, development and implementing their own business – capturing their entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial flair .
“Bond is uniquely placed to create a new synergy between business education and business practice due to our small-class environment,” said Professor Hirst.
“There is a big difference between being in a class of 25 and being in a class of 500 as you would be at larger universities.
“Bond’s low student-to-staff ratio, combined with our global connections with business leaders, government authorities, alumni and advisors means that we can create internship and project placement opportunities for all our students.
“It also allows our professors to work individually with each student; helping them to discover their particular strengths and interests, guiding them towards relevant career opportunities and mentoring them through every stage of establishing their own enterprise.
“As a result, Bond Business School graduates will be fully prepared to expect the unexpected, to derive value from every challenge and to succeed in the ever-changing corporate landscape.”
The rename cements Bond Business’ recent success in gaining international accreditation under the EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS).
Managed and run by the Brussels-based European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), EQUIS is the international gold standard system of quality assessment, improvement and accreditation of higher education institutions in management and business administration.
Less than 2% of the world’s 13,000 business programs are EQUIS accredited and Bond Business School is one of only eight in Australia to have dual EQUIS and AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) accreditation.
“The EQUIS approval process put us under the microscope with an in-depth review of the School, strategy, programs, research, community outreach and global competitive positioning conducted by a panel of international experts,” said Professor Hirst.
“Our success in meeting their exacting criteria certifies Bond Business as a world class, international business school whose program is driven by an intimate connection with the business community to provide a transformational experience for its students.”