BRUNEI-MUARA

Twenty-eight British universities and colleges participated in the 3rd annual UK Education Fair at the Empire Hotel and Country Club’s Indera Samudra Grand Hall yesterday.

The fair, organised by the British Universities in Brunei Association (BUBA), saw students and professionals flock to obtain information on their desired universities and courses for 2016 and 2017 enrolment.

British High Commissioner David Campbell told The Brunei Times that the fair also aimed to give a chance to students and professionals to take a last-minute look at suitable British universities to enrol at in the next few weeks.

“It offers a tremendous opportunity for students to ask questions about courses, a particular university or experience studying in the UK,” said Campbell.

He said that currently, 2,000 Bruneian students are furthering their studies in the UK.

“Education is one of the important ways of strengthening the relationship between both countries. We work very closely with the British High Commission and council as well as BUBA to ensure the continuation of the relationship,” he said.

“BUBA is the bringing together of 52 British universities which all have a very active interest in Brunei, and many of them already have lots of Bruneian students. They found this exhibition a very good means of keeping in touch with potential students,” he added.

Meanwhile, despite a decrease in the number of students in Brunei that have been granted scholarships, Campbell still sees more students making the UK their first choice for furthering their studies.

He said that even though some students didn’t get scholarships, they found an alternative by choosing a loan system recently introduced by the Ministry of Education (MoE).

“Over the last year, in addition to the scholarships under the Ministry of Education, we also have seen the launch of the loan system.

“There’s quite a number of students taking advantage of the loan system. We see three categories of students: those who received government scholarships, those who hoped to get the loan, and in some cases students who are privately funded,” he added.

Besides British universities, a representative of the Centre for British Teachers (CfBT) was also present to talk to those interested in taking the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test. Representatives of the Scholarship Unit and Accreditation Council under the MoE were also at the fair to answer queries about scholarships and education loans.

According to one of the officers from the Scholarship Unit, around 50 students had already been granted scholarships, and some will be leaving on August 24.

“The process for scholarships may take some time, as the ministry is still in the process of conducting mini multiple interviews (MMI) for all programmes, degrees, Master’s degrees and PhDs,” said the officer.

The Brunei Times