James Kon
The first recipient of the Universiti Teknologi Brunei’s (UTB) Scholar Scheme will be pursuing her PhD in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Loughborough University in the United Kingdom.
The recipient, Rohadatul’ Aisy Nabilah binti Irwan, who graduated with a First Class Honours in Bachelor of Business (Honours) in Technology Management and received the Chancellor’s award, said in an interview that she was quite nervous as the responsibilities are heavy.
“I will take up these responsibilities to contribute back to the country. I will be a lecturer in UTB after I finished my studies,” she said.
She said she wants to identify gaps in digitisation and how to bridge them.
She said while there are many entrepreneurs in the country, there was a lack of digital entrepreneurs that are capable of exporting overseas even though the nation has a high penetration of Internet access and social media. “I hope that the findings from the research will benefit Brunei as a whole,” she said.
Vice-chanceller of UTB Datin Paduka Professor Dr Hajah Zohrah binti Haji Sulaiman was the guest of honour.
UTB Registrar and Secretary Lim Chui Hua said the scholarship is awarded to students who have excellent academic achievements, exhibit good character, show potential as leaders, have passion for making changes, and commited to serving as future leaders.
He said the first round of UTB’s Scholar Scheme has two successful candidates selected through a rigorous process.
The second candidate, he said “is yet to receive approval of the UTB’s Scholar Scheme from the Ministry of Education, to which is subject to receiving an offer to a PhD programme from among the top 250 QS World University Ranking; or Times Higher Education World University Ranking; or Academic Ranking of World Universities”.
