The Gift of Experience

When Alfred Bader, Sc’45, BA’46, MSc’47, LLD’86, and Isabel Bader, LLD’07, bought Herstmonceux Castle – a six-centuries-old estate in England now known as the Bader International Study Centre – and gifted it to Queen’s in the early 1990s, they saw it as a future centre of learning, big ideas, and world peace. 

“Queen’s took an abandoned castle and turned it into a modern university campus with small class sizes and cutting-edge learning tools designed to create an exceptional learning environment,” says BISC Vice-Provost and Executive Director Hugh Horton. “The Baders envisaged a learning facility that could take the Queen’s educational experience Alfred deeply cherished and extend its reach internationally.” 

For almost three decades, students have travelled to the campus, located about two hours south of London, for what many find to be a transformative learning experience. 

What makes the BISC special – aside from the unique experience of going to school in a castle – is the focus on experiential learning. Professors have lessons that take students beyond the classroom and take advantage of learning activities across the 550-acre castle estate, and to important sites across England. Why learn about poetry in a classroom when you can get students to take part in a poetry slam night in the local pub – or zoology in a lecture when you can study protected species firsthand on the Herstmonceux estate? 

Thanks to the continued support of the Bader family, music continues to be a big part of the castle experience. The Musicians-in-Residence program gives students access to extra-curricular musical activities and events, including choir, concerts, lectures, lecture-recitals, workshops, and masterclasses. 

Horton is thankful for the generosity of the Bader family for giving students an inspiring classroom and a learning experience that many remember for the rest of their lives. 

“(The BISC has) grown and evolved over 25 years, but we’ve remained committed to the original vision as a place for scholars to come together, gain a mutual understanding, and improve our global society and promote positive change,” says Horton. 

Visit our campaign page to get the latest updates on our Bader Celebrations.