UBD Braces For Boom In Student Population
By Lyna Mohammad

Bandar Seri Begawan - Vice Chancellor of UBD, Dato PadukaHj Ismail Hj Duraman, said the number of enrollments and graduates has increased, and if this rising trend continues, the university's population in the near future will reach up to 4,000 per academic session.

The increasing student population is not an issue but the absence of additional facilities could result in complexities in comfort, space and logistics in accommodating the added numbers.

In view of this, UBD has to take several initiatives particularly in increasing space for academic staff and postgraduate work office, apart from making additions to several building projects scheduled to be ready soon.

He disclosed that several new programmes have been introduced including the Masters in Islamic Banking and Finance that is directly related to the establishment of Islamic banking, financial and management centres.

A unit initially offered a degree programme as a minor and recently stepped forward to offer masters programmes that have received a very encouraging response.

The centre not only offers academic programmes but also organises short training and courses in finance and management which are also conducted by experts brought in from abroad.

The centre will have its own building and establish strong cooperation with the Finance Ministry as well as have direct contacts with established financial institutions in Bahrain, Jeddah and Malaysia.

This, he added, are measures to ensure that the courses and programmes conducted by the centre are always relevant to the current and future developments as well as the needs of the finance industry.

In order to broaden the development of the professional programme in engineering, UBD has established cooperation with the University of New South Wales, Australia for the Chemical Engineering programme.

In the planning is a twinning programme in B.Sc. Geology and Petroleum Geology with the Aberdeen University in the UK.

With the changes and developments, UBD is reassessing its academic programmes in all faculties to ensure that the university will continue to be relevant and function more meaningfully in the community and national development.

The Vice Chancellor noted that in its efforts to increase the effectiveness of education and learning, academic support will always move in line with the university's vision.

Through the e-Government project, the UBD library has implemented the digitisation of important documents and an information project.

With this advancement, the library can broaden its services through cooperation with institutions abroad and hopefully become a leading IT institution in Borneo and Asean.

Meanwhile, he said, several projects under the 8th NDP are under way, while other projects for 9th NDP have been planned.

One of the projects is the extension to buildings to accommodate the rising number of students.

In other areas, UBD has published several journals, books and articles through the publication section as well as individuals.

In its efforts to uphold knowledge as a source of development and civilisation of a nation, a unit to coordinate the post-graduate programme is being upgraded to a centre to coordinate research and post-graduate studies affairs.

In congratulating the first local recipient of the Doctorate of Philosophy at the 18th Convocation yesterday, the Vice Chancellor said the award will boost UBD's name and excellence.

The Vice Chancellor also said that receiving a certificate or degree does not guarantee that the graduates will easily secure jobs or their preferred line of work.

Employers may use a hiring criteria that might be different from the new job-seekers' expectations.

Employers may give priority to hiring graduates who can provide commercial value and be an asset to the company or institution in the long term.

However, the Vice Chancellor assured that the university not only provides as much knowledge and skills to help the students obtain their certificates and degrees but also to become human resources which have the potential to support the institutions where the graduates will work. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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