| Wani Roslan |
IT WAS a moment of great pride and joy for 461 of graduates of Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB) yesterday, as they finally received their degrees and diplomas after years of intense hard work and academic toil.
Azyan Izzati binti Haji Masri, one of the graduates who received her certificate during the university’s convocation ceremony at the Plenary Hall of the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Berakas, told the Sunday Bulletin that she was elated to have completed her studies and expressed her gratitude to all who have supported her in her journey.
“Alhamdulillah, throughout my studies at the university, I learnt a lot from my lecturers. I’d like to express my gratitude to Allah the Almighty for the opportunity to further my studies at the Master’s level and to my parents, friends and lecturers for all their support,” said the Master of Science (Coursework) in Management and Technology graduate.
Giving words of advice to other students, she said, “To attain success, there need to be more effort on your part – one shouldn’t be over reliant on the lecturers. We need to be independent, but seek the opinions of the lecturers or supervisors when needed.”
“I hope that I can have the opportunity to work either in the government or private sector and practise the knowledge I’ve gained during my studies,” she added.
Awangku Nor Muhammad Nizam bin Pengiran Haji Tengah, a Bachelor of Business (Hons) in Business Information Technology graduate, shared that the main challenge for him was allocating time to study while juggling his career commitment at Baiduri Bank.
“The hard thing for me was trying to achieve top academic performance without jeopardising my work at Baiduri – I did this for four years. My work experience did facilitate my studies but new unfamiliar areas such as IT posed new challenges for me. I had to put in additional effort and invest more time to digest the study material while duty-bound in my career,” he said.
“I have to convey my gratitude to Allah the Almighty for enabling me to complete my degree. I would advise everyone that we must always enhance our commitment, passion and enjoyment of learning in the spirit of striving for excellence and commit to completing what we’ve already started pursuing,” Awangku Nor Muhammad Nizam added.
Muhammad Ahsanuddin Naqib bin Rosli, an upper-second class honours Bachelor of Engineering (Mechatronics) graduate, also expressed his gratitude to Allah the Almighty for his success.
“Without doubt, four years at UTB has been very challenging for me. One of the tricky things was time management as I had to juggle my studies alongside my co-curricular commitments as one of the members of the university’s Student Representative Council,” he said.
Also expressing his joy at graduating was upper-second class honours Bachelor of Business (Finance and E-Business) graduate, Mohammad Naqiuddin bin Mohd Salleh.
“Part of the challenges throughout my studies was understanding and adapting to a dynamic and competitive university system. We had to complete several analyses and research work in a short period time for each module, as well as apply the findings of the research,” he said.
When asked about what he plans to do now after graduating, he said, “I want to further my interest in finance and investment by participating in seminars. At the same time I’m looking for a job in my field of expertise to help Brunei achieve our Vision 2035.”