THE Youth Dialogue between YB Khairunnisa binti Haji Ash’ari, the youngest member of the new Legislative Council (LegCo), and students currently studying in the United Kingdom took place recently at Brunei Hall in London.
The event was attended by 17 students from both postgraduate and undergraduate levels, with officers from the Brunei Student’s Unit as observers.
The dialogue was also broadcast live through the Brunei Postgraduate Society’s Facebook page, with viewers interacting in real time.
YB Khairunnisa explained that as a LegCo member she would like to take the opportunity to gather a list of concerns from the students as well as recommendations that can be highlighted to other stakeholders including the ministries.
According to a press release issued by the Brunei Student Union in the UK and Ireland, the event started with a simple ice-breaking session.
YB Khairunnisa asked each participant to write their three top concerns on three separate post-it notes to be placed randomly at the centre.
Legislative Council member YB Khairunnisa binti Haji Ash’ari during her Youth Dialogue session with students currently studying in the United Kingdom.
Some of the event’s participants in London.
Participants were then asked to stand up and see the post-its, and try to categorise them according to similar themes.
In the end, a number of themes emerged and become discussion points across the room.
They included the development of manufacturing versus service sector, the creative industry, renewable energy, tourism, professional mobility in the region, job availability and education.
From the discussions, various issues were raised and noted, along with participants’ recommendations for improvements.
One such recommendation was to improve the graduate training programme to bridge life as a student with life at work.
Iznan Tarip, a PhD candidiate from Lancaster University, highlighted how graduate training programmes and industrial placements are very competitive in the UK.
It is a good platform for students to gain relevant work experience, to top up existing skill sets and open up further opportunities for them in the future.
These programmes would also be attractive to fresh graduates looking to add more value to themselves and become more marketable.
Employers in both the private and public sectors would also benefit in terms of having more energetic manpower with fresh ideas.
They would also be able to identify potential employees in the future, which could then ease the recruitment process.
However, in Brunei, these programmes are still underdeveloped and underappreciated.
For example, governments do allow for short attachments, but these can be rigid because they only accept people taking specific courses, such as engineering and accounting.
This does not reflect the current reality, whereby nowadays, you can find engineering graduates taking jobs in finance and investment, for instance.
Opening up applications would, therefore, be more beneficial and allow for more explorations.
The post LegCo member holds dialogue with students at Brunei Hall in London appeared first on Borneo Bulletin Online.