| Syazwani Hj Rosli |
TWENTY-YEAR-OLD Zabelina Darya from Russia and 24-year-old Pedro Gustavo Lima from Brazil may not know each other, but they share the same excitement – of being in Brunei with an academic mission.
Both of them were part of the international student contingent that turned up for the opening day of Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) Freshers’ Week yesterday to attend the orientation programme for the January 2018 intake.
Talking to the Bulletin, Zabelina Darya, a third year Bachelor’s Degree student majoring in Philology at the Saint Petersburg State University, said she came to UBD as an exchange student from Russia for a semester at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
Her Bachelor’s programme in Russia requires her to study Bahasa Indonesia.
“Brunei speaks Malay Language, a language which is similar to Bahasa Indonesia, which prompted me to come here and learn more about this country. With the encouragement from my teachers and my friends, I decided to choose Brunei for my exchange programme,” she said.
“Brunei is new not only for me, but the majority I know in my country. Many people in Russia do not really know about this country or even know where it is – not even my parents. But they supported my decision to come here and experience Brunei, not only in terms of academics but also the socio-cultural environment here.”
She arrived in Brunei the night before the Freshers’ Week commenced.
“I’ve never been to Brunei before and am yet to explore this country. The university has an efficient administration system which has helped us (the international students) immensely. I hope that their assistance will go beyond the enrolment procedure,” Zabelina noted.
She expressed happiness that the international students received a warm welcome for the Freshers’ Week, hoping that the well-organised orientation days and other informative sessions would assist them in understanding more about studying at UBD.
Meanwhile, Brazilian Pedro Gustavo Lima also shared his excitement as an international student.
“I’m a first time visitor here. The trip to Brunei was very long; I had to spend two-and-a-half days travelling from Brazil to Brunei, but I am glad I have arrived here safely.”
Arriving in Brunei on December 31, 2017, Pedro said that he has not had the opportunity to explore the country yet as he was busy preparing for the enrolment and orientation programme.
“I will be spending a semester at UBD. In Brazil, I study Industrial Engineering but here, I have enrolled for modules such as Manufacturing Engineering under the Faculty of Integrated Technologies (FIT).
“There are some modules here that are closely related to my programme in Brazil, so I hope that this will help broaden my academic knowledge further,” he said.
“I came here because I have always wanted to interact with the Asian people because for me, they are the best in terms of engineering. I am here not only to experience a different academic environment far from home, but also know more about the culture and people here,” Pedro added.
He also praised UBD for being well-organised and its willingness to help international students, not only in adapting to the culture and environment in Brunei, but also easing the processes and requirements for enrolling here.
“I hope to enjoy and get along with all the lecturers and be able to absorb the maximum that I can in all the modules I am enrolled to,” he said.
In an interview, Dr Sabrina binti Dato Paduka Haji Mohd Daud, Deputy Director of Global Relations at UBD, said that the university has a lot of partner universities worldwide since 2009.
“We now have more than 120 partner universities from 29 countries in six different continents.”
She informed that this is the first time UBD received Russian exchange students and most of whom would be staying in Brunei for one or two semesters.
“From Saint Petersburg State University, our new partner university in Russia, five students will be joining the current UBD intake.
“Similarly, we have a partnership with a consortium in Brazil, signed about a year ago. Last semester, we had a Brazilian student and this is the second time we are receiving another student from Brazil,” she said.
“UBD has been striving to be excellent in its internationalisation efforts, which will see more international students selecting UBD as their choice university.
“These students come to UBD not just for studying, but to learn and understand more about Brunei as well, so we hope that this will also help Brunei in terms of tourism development,” Dr Sabrina said.
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