The Republic of Singapore's Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Visits Universiti Brunei Darussalam
Photo Courtesy: Universiti Brunei Darussalam
The Republic of Singapore's Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Mr Teo Chee Hean visited Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) as part of his official visit to Brunei Darussalam for the Young Leaders' Programme. Receiving Mr Teo Chee Hean upon arrival at UBD's Pengiran Anak Puteri Rashidah Sa'adatul Bolkiah Institute of Health Sciences (PAPRSB IHS) Extension Building was Permanent Secretary (Higher Education) at the Ministry of Education, Dr Haji Azman Bin Ahmad and UBD Vice Chancellor Datin Dr Dayang Hajah Anita Binurul Zahrina binti Pehin Orang Kaya Laila Wijaya Dato Seri Setia Haji Awang Abdul Aziz, as well as senior officials from the Ministry of Education and UBD's senior management team.
Accompanying Singapore's Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security were Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth; Mr Masagos Zulkifli bin Masagos Mohamad, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs; Mr Heng Chee How, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Defence; Mr Edwin Tong Chun Fai, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Law and Ministry of Health; Mr Lim Hong Huai, High Commissioner of the Republic of Singapore in Brunei and senior government officers from Singapore.
Mr Teo Chee Hean's visit to UBD began with a tour of the state-of-the-art facilities at PAPRSB Institute of Health Sciences comprising 5 simulation rooms (Emergency Bay, Medical Surgical Bay, Operating Theatre Bay, Maternity Bay, and Children Bay). PAPRSB IHS has an outstanding simulation team who have developed over 50 clinical scenarios to develop the knowledge, motor skills and non-technical skills such as decision making, team dynamics of students in medicine, nursing, midwifery, pharmacy, dentistry, paramedics etc. This includes the ability to practice their clinical competencies in a structured environment and also their soft skills, including communication. The faculty was also the first American Heart Association (AHA) International Training Centre (ITC) for First Aid, Basic Life Support (BLS), Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) in Brunei. Its aim is to train over 500 people per year in high quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and use of automatic external defibrillators (AED). PAPRSB IHS has 13 AHA accredited instructors to date.
In its flagship Bachelor of Health Sciences in Medicine programme, PAPRSB IHS students spend three years in UBD after which they are transferred to one of the Partner Medical Schools (PMS) for the second phase of the programme for a further three years. PAPRSB IHS' is partnered with renowned medical schools across the world including Glasgow University, University of Aberdeen, University of Southampton in the United Kingdom; University College Cork, Trinity College Dublin, National University Galway in Ireland; Australian National University, University New South Wales Sydney, Adelaide University in Australia and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
After the tour of PAPRSB IHS simulation rooms, Mr Teo Chee Hean had the opportunity to observe an ongoing session of UBD's Global Classroom. The Global Classroom began in UBD at the PAPRSB IHS and offers simultaneous video-conferencing links with 8 universities in Asia including National University of Singapore, Seoul National University and Kagawa University.
Since 2012, UBD has participated in an annual global classroom on International Perspectives of Environmental and Occupational Health Issues. The classroom sessions run from September to December every year under the Environmental Occupational Health Module in the Master of Public Health Programme of PAPRSB Institute of Health Sciences.
UBD Vice Chancellor then proceeded to brief Mr Teo Chee Hean and delegation with an overview of the latest developments at UBD, including UBD's ongoing collaboration with universities and institutions in Singapore over lunch. Tokens of appreciation were then exchanged between the Republic of Singapore Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security and Acting Minister of Education, Brunei Darussalam, Datin Seri Paduka Dr Hajah Romaizah Binti Haji Mohd Salleh. This was followed by Mr Teo Chee Hean exchanging tokens with the UBD Vice Chancellor.
Mr Teo Chee Hean ended his visit to UBD by viewing an exhibition showcasing six selected start-up companies initiated by UBD students. These were Smart Coating Technologies (B) Sdn Bhd, PharmBru, Muappy, BruMEQ, Ambient Production and EcoLight.
Universiti Brunei Darussalam achieved a major milestone this year, entering the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings for the very first time with a global position in the 401 to 500 band. UBD is now the fourth-ranked university in ASEAN. This is a remarkable accomplishment for a small 34-year old university. UBD's rise up the ranks in the QS rankings as top 300 in the world, top 100 in Asia, and 35 in the world for universities under 50 years old, and now in the THE world rankings, has resulted in increasing international recognition of UBD as a university of innovation and enterprise.
-Courtesy of Universiti Brunei Darussalam-