Christine Bundesen AM Grant

Award Background

The Christine Bundesen AM Language Teaching Organisation (LTO) Management Grant was established in 2017 by the late Christine Bundesen AM and English Australia to acknowledge and recognise the achievements and performance of key middle and upper middle managers within member colleges.

Sadly, we lost Christine, one of the greatest leaders and personalities of our sector and the broader international education industry, on 26 September 2022. Click here to read more.

About Christine Bundesen AM

Christine Bundesen had an extremely rich and successful career in the ELICOS sector, including being appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia in 2012 for “service to international tertiary education through leadership roles in the field of English Language Teaching, to the development of quality assurance standards, and to professional organisations”.

Christine Bundesen (centre) received her award from Sue Blundell, Executive Director English Australia (L) and English Australia Chair Seamus Fagan

For the majority of her career, Christine worked at the Institute of Continuing & TESOL Education of the University of Queensland (ICTE-UQ), where she was Director. She played a major role throughout her career in developing and promoting ELICOS in Australia and abroad and more broadly in Australia’s international education industry. She was recipient of the inaugural IDP Outstanding Achievement in International Education Award in 1997, was a key player in the international education negotiations with the Australian federal government for the first ESOS Act in 2000, was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2001 for her “contributions to the reforms of the student visa program”, and personally drafted the original standards for the first National ELT Accreditation Scheme (NEAS) in 1989.

Christine had a long history with English Australia and English Australia is extremely proud to include in its suite of awards this Grant, through a philanthropic donation from her.

Christine was one of the founding members of English Australia (formerly the ELICOS Association), served as its inaugural Chair for ten years and was a General Delegate on the Board for many years. In 2010, she was awarded the inaugural English Australia Award for Lifetime Achievement.

According to Christine, the philanthropic donation of this Grant “… enables me, at this point of retirement from my substantive involvement in the sector, to make a contribution back to English Australia to record my appreciation for its activities past, present and future for the benefit of the sector”. English Australia is delighted to add the Christine Bundesen AM Language Teaching Organisation (LTO) Management Grant to its suite of ELICOS sector awards and thankful to Christine for her generous contribution.

Grant Prize

The winner receives AUD$1500 to be used to undertake professional development (PD) in a field of management to achieve up-skilling in their career pathway. The winner must provide a report on this PD to English Australia and the information will be used as part of the winner’s profile which will be featured on the English Australia website.

The winner also receives:

a certificate;
profiling on the English Australia website;
use of the English Australia award winner logo on their email signature.

Criteria

The Grant is awarded to any person who holds a role in the area of LTO management in an English Australia member college. This person can be a manager in any area of the member college, e.g. finance, human resources, systems, marketing, communications, admissions, student services, client services, compliance etc.

The judges will make their decisions based on:

Evidence of contributions made by a nominee.
The impact of these contributions on their member college.
Evidence of outstanding professional skills in leadership, such as commitment, integrity, valuing staff, overcoming challenges etc.
The nature of the PD to be undertaken proposed by the nominee.

Eligibility

The Grant is open to anyone employed by an English Australia member college. Nominations must be supported by an authorised representative of the college, e.g. Principal Administrator, CEO, Director, Director of Studies.
Current members of the English Australia Board are not eligible for consideration, however any other staff of their college are eligible for nomination.
Previous winners of this Grant cannot be nominated for a second time. Winners of other English Australia awards are welcome to apply.

How to nominate

Nominations for the 2025 Christine Bundesen AM Grant are now closed. 2026 nominations will open in March 2026.

2025 Winner

The 2025 Christine Bundesen Award has been awarded to Andrew Jackon, Macquarie University College.

Andrew Jackson has been working at Macquarie University College for 10 years as a Student Advisor, Governance Officer, and as the Education Services Manager since 2023. Andrew’s nomination clearly demonstrated his strategic leadership and the significant impact of his work at Macquarie University College. Andrew has implemented various structural changes at the college, in particular, he updated the college academic calendar to align with university study periods and worked to create a 4-week academic transition program for pathway students. Andrew has also been praised for his dedicated support of his team through a collaborative approach which focuses on their professional development.