| Hakim Hayat |
A DELEGATION from the Ministry of Education (MoE) led by Deputy Minister of Education Datin Seri Paduka Dr Hajah Romaizah binti Haji Md Salleh is attending the 13th Session of Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO) General Conference at the ISESCO Headquarters in Rabat, Morocco.
The Deputy Minister of Education in her statement said that Brunei Darussalam’s National Education System for the 21st Century (SPN21) strongly emphasises quality education, which includes investing in early childhood and lifelong learning to equip students with the necessary skills not only to face the 21st Century challenges, but also the Fourth Industrial Revolution, while keeping to Islamic beliefs and values.
With regard to higher education in the Sultanate, she shared the recent notable highlights such as Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) achieving a breakthrough – where it broke into the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings at 349th place in 2017, as well as Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB) ranking in at 422nd place in 2018.
She pointed out that UTB had been rated a Five-Star University based on the QS Star Rating System after achieving five stars in six out of the seven categories, namely, Teaching, Employability, Internationalisation, Facilities, Social Responsibility and Inclusiveness.
She also informed the conference that Bandar Seri Begawan has been named the Islamic Culture Capital for the Asian region for the year 2019.
The deputy minister and delegation also had the opportunity to make courtesy calls to Director General of ISESCO Dr Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri as well as to Minister of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research of Morocco Saaid Amzazi.
Among those accompanying the deputy minister are Permanent Secretary (Higher Education) at the MoE Dr Haji Azman bin Ahmad, Charge D’Affaires at the Embassy of Brunei Darussalam in Morocco Awangku Haji Shahrin bin Pengiran Haji Bakar, and two officers from the MoE.
Dr Haji Azman also attended the 39th Session of the ISESCO Executive Council that took place on October 8 – 9 prior to General Conference. He also visited the Mohammed V University of Rabat and paid a courtesy call to Acting President of Mohammed V University of Rabat Abdelhanine Belhaj.
The conference, themed ‘Al-Quds Al-Sharif,’ is attended by ministers, deputy ministers and senior officials from over 46 member states of ISESCO, representatives of international organisations and observers.