Bandar Seri Begawan - Curtains for the eG.InC Senior Executive e-Government Course (SEEC) and Middle Executive e-Government Course (MEEC) were officially drawn yesterday with an opening ceremony that took place at the ILIA Lecture Theatre of Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD).

The Deputy Permanent Secretary (IT and e-Government) at the Prime Minister's Office, Awg Adi Shamsul bin Hj Sabli, was the guest of honour.

Also present were Assistant Vice Chancellors of UBD, Dr Azman Ahmad (Academic Affairs) and Hjh Anis Faudzulani Hj Dzulkiflee (Corporate and Administration), Director of the e-Government Innovation Centre (eG.InC) Mohd Norshafiee DP Hj Abd Jalil and his deputy, Dr Hjh Syamimi Hj Md Ariff Lim.

Others present included the Deputy Korea Counsellor Mr Sung-Wok Jo representing the Korean Ambassador as well as senior officials from the government, eG.InC alumni and principal officers of UBD.

The Deputy Director of eG.InC, Dr Hjh Syamimi, in her welcoming note pointed out that eG.InC was launched with three main thrusts of e-Government training, conducting research and development, creating an environment for sharing and exchanging innovative and creative ideas.

It was established in line with the human capacity building initiative, which is one of the strategic priorities of the Brunei e-Government Strategic Framework 2009-2014 and has recently been awarded the 'Citizen Engagement' in the Asia Pacific FutureGov Awards and Summit 2012.

The award has put eG.InC as one of the top 50 agencies in the Asia Pacific for IT programmes and was also shortlisted as the top five in two other categories namely Business Process and Technology Leadership.

"This is a tremendous achievement to us because we have been given the trust that we are offering quality training services to our stakeholders," said Dr Hjh Syamimi.

She further noted that leadership in the senior and middle executive is crucial to managing change, which will enable the e-Government initiatives to be implemented successfully "These executives therefore are required to establish their ministries' visions, plans and management embracing e-Government services for the near future. E-Government is an enabler, not an end itself."

OECD stated that e-Government is more than just electronics, meaning that it covers a variety of governance topics.

"In other words, we cannot get maximised benefits from e-Government initiatives without substantial progress in the area of governance and its enabling environment."

The deputy director further highlighted that executives usually lacked the required skills and knowledge of ICT related projects and they are often implemented by ICT specialists thus the course serves to overcome the misconception that e-Government skills are technical matters that should be left entirely to ICT specialists.

"Executives need to be equipped with information society skills and need to be able to use ICT resources to implement e-Government initiatives coherent with the country's overall strategy" stressed the deputy director.

SEEC and MEEC aim to provide executives with overall knowledge and skills on the e-Government policy, management and change, amongst others and to ensure that they have the adequate skills for adoption policy and to deploy ICT initiatives in their respective department and ministries.

The programme also aims to create awareness of e-Government initiatives, with particular emphasis on the public through understanding the possibilities and the limits of new technology as well as the overall e-services.

It is hoped that the SEEC and MEEC courses will provide government executives the opportunities to deepen their vision and practical knowledge that can help lead the nation to develop its economic diversity to come up with Vision 2035.

--Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin