Bandar Seri Begawan - Education acts as a gateway to maximise human capacity and Brunei clearly realises this importance with the cooperation of bilateral agreements between educational institutions such as with Japan, said Japanese ambassador to Brunei Darussalam, Noriki Hirose.

With the recent signing of two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) between Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) and two Japanese educational institutions, Bruneian students will be able to continue their studies for half a year or a year, upon entering the third year of their studies in Japan.

The Japanese ambassador told The Brunei Times that the Ministry of Education (MoE) and UBD "clearly knew how to transform human resources into human capacity".

"Signing these MoUs demonstrate development in cooperation of higher education (between UBD and Japan), and I am glad."

Since 2004, there have been five Moils that have been signed between UBD and various Japanese educational institutions.

Hirose added Japan hoped for more Bruneians to partake in their Youth Readers Programme, which enabled any graduate or government official who wished to undertake a Masters degree.

He explained that the programme was an MBA programme, which comprised mainly business modules.

"The programme is offered in English, which is designed to foster future leaders in Asean countries and to build human networks, especially for government officials. This is why we (Japan) hope to strengthen cooperation with UBD and the Civil Service Department to encourage more graduates and officers to take up the one-year programme," he said.

However, the Japanese ambassador said that it was also important to establish high school cooperation.

"We have started to collaborate with high schools in Brunei and this year, we have invited 80 students who are about to complete their high school studies to Japan for two weeks to familiarise themselves with the country," he said.

Hirose expressed hopes that the Japanese language would be a part of the curriculum in high schools and universities in the Sultanate.

The ambassador also spoke of a separate programme called the AFF programme (under the Jenesys programme), where Bruneian students are invited to study in Japan for a year.

He added he was pleased with the cooperation and support from MoE in encouraging Bruneian students to take part in the programme.

"Last year we did not receive any Bruneian students for the programme, but this year there are eight students going to Japan to study for a year with the support of the Brunei government," he said.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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