BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

HIS Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam has approved the formation of the Centre for Innovative Engineering (CIE) as a platform for quality innovative engineering research.

In a titah delivered at the Institut Teknologi Brunei (ITB) Convocation 2014 yesterday, the ITB Chancellor expected the newly-approved CIE to become a centre of excellence and serve as a reference for collaboration between local and foreign agencies.

The monarch also commended the establishment of the Centre for Transport Research (CFTR), which focuses its engineering and technology-oriented research on land, air and transport systems.

Noting the close cooperation between CFTR and the Ministry of Communications, His Majesty hoped such ties will be extended to other agencies in line with the National Vision. The Sultan further urged ITB to collaborate with highly-reputable research institutions in a bid to attain international recognition. “It is of my opinion that ITB needs to forge good relations with relevant strategic agencies,” said the ITB chancellor, underlining the importance of excellence in learning and research. His Majesty said they must move forward to form “a deep and broad” strategic relationship involving academics, the industry and government. With a Triple Helix association, the monarch anticipated the possibility of a closely-integrated collaboration with a multinational company on the ITB campus.

“ITB and the industry ought to work together to take advantage of this cooperation to offer programmes in the field of Emerging Science,” said the Sultan.

His Majesty suggested ITB to nurture its students in a holistic manner, educating and enhancing their thinking skills based on Malay Muslim Monarchy (MIB). The monarch also advised the institute to look into how students can share their learning experience with other institutions of higher education.

“Apart from that, ITB also needs to openly raise the level of exposure for their students in the international arena.”

The Sultan explained that a higher level of exposure in the international arena could possibly help the ITB students address issues relating to intellectual property rights, funding, technological transfer and resources.

His Majesty said it is imperative for the institute to improve the quality of its academic staff to the standard of a reputable university as the quality of students is correlated to the quality of teaching staff. “Earlier this year, I consented to the introduction of the Academic Staff Service Scheme (SPTA) for public higher education institutions. I would like to reiterate that only truly deserving academic staff should be included in the scheme,” he said. The monarch also welcomed ITB’s aim to become one of the top 10 universities for engineering and technology in Southeast Asia by 2018.

“This is not something impossible to achieve if everyone in ITB works towards that aim,” said His Majesty, describing the institute as a prestigious university in Brunei with a long-standing contribution to the development of human resources in engineering and technology.

“I see that with local and global job markets becoming more challenging, it is necessary for ITB to be more progressive in managing quality education,” said His Majesty, noting it will support the national agenda on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) as well as promote innovation.

The monarch was also pleased with the Crown Prince CIPTA Award’s recent move to open the ITB-run competition to ASEAN member states.

“I hope this platform will be capable of stimulating more innovation among ASEAN countries and indirectly support the aspiration of the ASEAN Community by 2015. In addition, ITB will hopefully come up with a model, whereby ASEAN nations will be able to practise open innovation,” said His Majesty.

The Brunei Times