| Danial Norjidi |
TELEKOM Brunei Berhad (TelBru) reached another milestone in its contribution to higher education in Brunei Darussalam yesterday with the signing of two Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) students under its sponsorship programme.
The signing took place at TelBru’s Learning Centre in Berakas, and saw UBD Faculty of Integrated Technologies (FIT) undergraduates Tan Chien Loong in Year 4 and Muhamad Afieq bin Rosle in Year 3 officially recognised as sponsored students, in a move that will position them to undertake professional technical responsibilities within the next three to five years as part of TelBru’s localisation initiative.
By being under the sponsorship programme, the engineering students who are currently undertaking their degrees in Information Communication Systems will be provided with practical training opportunities while on attachment with TelBru, making them more marketable and ready for service upon their graduation.
Signing on behalf of TelBru was its Chief Executive Officer, David Kay and Head of Resourcing, Dayangku Surayani binti Pengiran Haji Tajuddin, witnessed by the guest of honour Rubiah binti Haji Yacub, Assistant Vice Chancellor (Corporate and Administration) at UBD.
Dayang Rubiah in her speech said, “It is a great pleasure to be here at the TelBru sponsorship signing ceremony for our students.
TelBru Chief Executive Officer, David Kay, signing the agreement with Tan Chien Loong (R). – PHOTOS: DANIAL NORJIDI
The signing under way for the agreement with Muhamad Afieq bin Rosle (R).
“The sponsorship is a direct outcome from the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with TelBru a few months ago in March,” she said, expressing her thanks to TelBru for their continuous support and commitment.
“The sponsorship signifies the importance of industry-support/input as strategic partners in preparing and training the future workforce of the country to be ready with the skills and expertise that are relevant for the new economy and at the same time realising Brunei Darussalam’s Vision 2035 to attain highly-skilled and well-educated citizens.”
Industry support is one of the essential components for the advancement of higher education, she highlighted, saying that it generates creativity, innovation and enterprise.
“In the current climate, with the expectation for universities to be more self-sustainable, these attributes can only be attained by engaging the industry in curriculum development to inculcate a culture of creativity, innovation and enterprise amongst our students and staff.”
She shared that the Faculty of Integrated Technologies offers a broad-based engineering programme with added emphasis on entrepreneurship, leadership, innovation and environmental awareness.
“The sponsorship of our students demonstrates the dedication of TelBru as one of our key industry partners in shaping and producing future GenNEXT engineers.
“I hope in the years to come, TelBru like us at UBD will feel how gratifying it is to see our product, our students make an impact not just in Brunei but the region. It is encouraging to see them grow and develop into their own unique and successful individuals.”
“In closing, I hope through our collective effort and commitment, UBD and TelBru will be able to achieve more, further develop and strengthen our relationship to maintain a successful and fruitful partnership,” she added.
David Kay in his speech said, “Eight months ago, TelBru inked its partnership with UBD to stimulate its academic environment by enriching teaching and learning at the university.
“The sharing of technical expertise and resources and direct interaction with the experts within TelBru can offer undergraduates a real world working environment giving them a deeper understanding of the dynamics of the industry,” he said.
He added, beyond that, UBD can offer its innovation and discovery-driven culture while TelBru can share its market and customer-driven environment.
“I am very happy that to date, we have managed to forge successful collaboration at different levels with various institutions in the country,” said the TelBru CEO. “Just recently, we took on 10 students from IBTE for the HNTec Apprenticeship Training Scheme in Telecommunications and IT.
“Today, we are taking another important step forward by formalising an agreement with two UBD students through the Faculty of Integrated Technologies,” he said. “All these partnerships reaffirm our strong commitment to working together for the benefit of our young people and the development of education in Brunei Darussalam.
“We believe that educating our young people is a shared responsibility. That is why industry and academic partnership like ours is significantly important to us, and as a potential employer for your graduates, this partnership will enable the undergraduates to attune themselves to the needs of this constantly evolving industry,” he added.
“As your graduates will be trained according to industry specification and needs, it will not only broaden their experience but more importantly expose them to real problems and solutions and increase their marketability in an ever growing challenging job market.”
The two students who signed the agreement yesterday spoke with the Bulletin, beginning with Tan Chien Loong.
“It feels really good, I’m happy. This shows that there’s understanding between industry and academic. It makes you feel secure, because you have this job opportunity waiting for you after you graduate,” he said, adding that he was very thankful.
Muhamad Afieq was also very pleased, saying, “I feel very honoured. I’m happy to have been chosen. I’m happy to be here, and I’m looking forward to my future with TelBru.”
Among the attendees for yesterday’s event were members of TelBru staff as well as the company’s partners from UBD.
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