Some 1,149 graduates – including 24 local and 19 international graduates receiving their PhDs – were feted at the 35th Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) Convocation Ceremony at the university’s Chancellor Hall yesterday.
The ceremony also saw the largest number of graduates in the university’s history.
His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, the Chancellor of UBD and His Royal Highness Prince (Dr) Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office, and the Pro-Chancellor of UBD graced the ceremony.
Upon arrival, His Majesty and His Royal Highness were received by Minister of Education Datin Seri Setia Dr Hajah Romaizah binti Haji Mohd Salleh and UBD Vice-Chancellor Dr Hazri bin Haji Kifle.
His Majesty presented graduation certificates to the 43 PhD and 792 Bachelor graduates from the 11th batch of UBD’s GenNEXT programme in the morning session, while His Royal Highness presented certificates to 268 Master graduates and 42 Graduate Diploma and four Diploma recipients in the afternoon session.
The ceremony began with the recitation of Surah Al-Fatihah led by State Mufti Pehin Datu Seri Maharaja Dato Paduka Seri Setia (Dr) Ustaz Haji Awang Abdul Aziz bin Juned.
The event continued with the recitation of Surah An-Nahl, verses 64 to 69 by Biomedical Science undergraduate Muhammad Izzuddin bin Haji Nor Hisham.
This was followed by a welcoming address from the vice-chancellor highlighting the university’s academic achievements, including the implementation of a special work group to assess, benchmark and provide direction of a new curriculum that is always relevant and effective that offers interdisciplinary and experiential learning.
“This is to ensure graduates can gain knowledge, skills and competency needed in this challenging era, aligned with His Majesty’s call at the 34th UBD Convocation Ceremony to have the GenNEXT curriculum reviewed to ensure it is continuously relevant and produce employable and future-proof graduates,” he said. “Stakeholder engagement has also and will continuously be implemented alongside the industry, government agency, students, alumni and parents through workshop, research and focus group to get valuable views and feedbacks in the improvisation of the curriculum. The effort will be implemented more comprehensively and carefully to identify any gap or resources needed in ensuring production and implementation of a sturdy, sustainable new curriculum and is in alignment with the higher learning at international level.”
UBD is also offering two new programmes – Master and PhD in Digital Public Health and Micromaster of Occupational Health and Safety in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the Safety, Health and Environment National Authority (SHENA).
The implementation of the programmes, he added, is in support of lifelong learning in line with professional and industry needs.
The university is also now the co-leader for the ASEAN University Network on Technology-Enhanced Personalised Learning (AUN-TEPL) along with Singapore Management University, Universiti Malaya and Mahidol University, Thailand, which serves to instil cooperation among ASEAN universities in upgrading learning assisted by technology.
In terms of curriculum development and entrepreneurial education of students, UBD has collaborated with City University, Hong Kong and Babson College of the United States (US) where these two are among the best learning institutions for entrepreneurship education.
On research, the university has set up the Research Management System (ReMS) providing a more conducive, efficient and user-friendly research eco-system. From this system, research has expanded in terms of quantity and quality.
The publication of research and citation have shown very positive increase where currently 11 of UBD academicians fall into the two per cent group of Best Scientists around the globe, according to an annual report published by Standford University.
He shared that UBD has also acquired research funds form the Council for Research and Advancement of Technology and Science (CREATES), Brunei Shell Petroleum Company Sdn Bhd and several agencies as well as renowned universities such as Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology and National Science Foundation, US.
Two research groups have also been established at the university namely Digital Health and Sustainability, which are two vital fields for human’s future benefit and it is hoped that all these developments will continue to bring UBD as a University of Excellence in the region and at global level.
After the presentation of graduation certificates, His Majesty and His Royal Highness consented to view a special exhibition featuring latest scientific findings and innovations. – Lyna Mohamad
