BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

THE number of Bruneian students in Malaysia has been increasing over the past three years, with the current number standing at 515 students compared to over 300 in 2013.

Speaking to The Brunei Times in Kuala Lumpur recently, Brunei High Commission in Malaysia’s Education and Cultural Attaché, Mohammad Danny Aimi, said out of the 515 students, over 200 of them are under various Brunei government scholarships and the remaining are private students.

In 2014, there were 470 Bruneian students in Malaysia, and over 300 students the year before, he said.

Mohammad Danny said scholarships provided by the Brunei government in Malaysia are under the Islamic Studies Department (JPI), the Ministry of Education, DANA, the Discovery Year under UBD, UNISSA, student exchange programmes, student abroad programmes, and KUPU SB.

The highest number of Bruneian private students are at the Asia-Pacific University (APU) in Bukit Jalil in Kuala Lumpur, with over 100 studying there.

The education and cultural attaché said most of them are undertaking courses in Technology and IT.

For the scholarship students, most of them are pursuing courses under JPI at Universiti Islamic Antarabangsa, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Malaya (UM), and Universiti Science Islamic Malaysia (USIM).

He said: “The number of Bruneian students here in Malaysia has been increasing from time to time. We used to have fewer students but now we have over 500.”

Mohammad Danny said according to Brunei’s Darussalam National Accreditation Council, most of the Malaysian universities are under Tier 5 and are approved by Brunei.

“Tier 5 means it is an excellent university based on the Malaysian Qualification Agency Analysis and Assessment,’’ he explained.

“Most of the universities in Malaysia are well recognised in Brunei. I see a lot of Bruneian students who have graduated from universities here now working at government agencies and in the private sector back home.

“I believe that students studying here will find it easy getting a job back in Brunei upon graduating,’’ the education and cultural attaché added.

Meanwhile, he said a lot of Malaysian universities and education institutes have approached the Brunei High Commission to introduce their universities for Brunei scholarships.

“I have been to several colleges and I have sent the paperwork back to Brunei for them to deliberate (whether there could be potential link-ups for students),’’ he said.

Under the Brunei government, Mohammad Danny said there are scholarships offered to Malaysian students to study in Brunei as well.

“There is interest from Malaysian students, and so far, there are some Malaysians doing their Masters and PhDs at UBD. Some have also applied to UNISSA as well. At this moment, they are interviewing Malaysian students for this year’s intake,’’ he said.

He said Bruneian students should not be made to think that pursuing higher education at Malaysian institutions are not accredited like those in the UK or Australia.

“These education institutions are well accredited, and expenses are not as high in the UK or Australia. Also, studying here has a closer proximity to home and both cultures are very similar,’’ he said.

The Brunei Times