BDTVEC COUNCIL VISITS KIGS (BB)

Bandar Seri Begawan - The need to have conducive infrastructure and trained educators in institutions must be emphasised to reach the highest effectiveness of teaching and learning for students, the Deputy Minister of Education said yesterday.

Institutions that offer courses in Brunei Darussalam Technical and Vocational Certificate (BDTVEC) in particular must strive to diversify their programmes to be much more innovative and competitive, in line with human resource needs of the country.

Speaking during a visit of the BDTVEC Council to IGS College (KIGS) yesterday, Dato Seri Setia Awang Hj Yusoff bin Hj Ismail said, "These efforts must be further enhanced in response to His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam's call for the private sector to play a role in the Sultanate's development".

In his capacity as Chairman of the BDTVEC Council, he said the visit was imperative to provide an opportunity for members to further monitor the implementation of the courses in the college, as well as to allow them to interact with students and teaching staff and observe the infrastructure available and teaching and learning sessions that are being practised.

To date, the BDTVEC Council has approved 107 programmes in various levels.

Institutions currently offering BDTVEC programmes include seven technical and vocational institutions under the Technical Education Department; Institut Teknologi Brunei (ITB); several secondary schools under the Schools Department; Marine Technical Training Centre under the Ministry of Defence and four other BDTVEC Approved Centre (KIGS, Micronet International College, Cosmopolitan College of Commerce and Technology and Kemuda Institute).

The council's establishment is aimed at providing a flexible and effective certification system for technical and vocational education that meets certain requirements to fulfil the needs of local and private industries, and the communities as well as the economy of Brunei Darussalam, he said.

Pg Hjh Fatimah binti PSJ Pg Hj Abd Momin, CEO/Chairman of KIGS, said the college has become the first of its kind to offer a full-fledged tertiary level locally, with a record of highest rate of employability for its students in both government and private institutions.

A number of students have been awarded with scholarships to pursue their education abroad. (Six are now pursuing their degrees in the United Kingdom and one in Malaysia).

The introduction of SPN21 has spurred KIGS towards meeting the new challenges, requirements and national expectations in tandem with its mission "to become a dynamic industry leader and achieve excellence in meeting the education needs and aspirations of Bruneian and international students by providing leading-edge tertiary level education and professional training, she said.

The BDTVEC Council delegation toured the college's campus, the administration office, tutorial rooms, library, staff room, computer hardware and maintenance rooms and computer labs.

KIGS is one of the private higher learning institutions in Brunei that pioneers BDTVEC courses in business management and computer studies since 2004.

The college offers seven BDTVEC programmes related to Business and Computer Studies in Pre-National Diploma, National Diploma and Higher National Diploma.

These courses are BDTVEC Higher National Diploma in Business (Accounting), BDTVEC Higher National Diploma in Business (Management), BDTVEC Higher National Diploma in Computing, BDTVEC Higher National Diploma in Business and Finance, BDTVEC National Diploma in Computer Studies, BDTVEC Pre-National Diploma in Business and Finance and BDTVEC Pre-National Diploma in Computer Studies.

KIGS also offers courses in the degree level with the collaboration of Limkokwing University of Creative Technology Malaysia.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

GETTING UPDATES ON VTE PROGRESS (BT)

by Hana Roslan

Brunei's voctech education council visits IGS College

MEMBERS of the Brunei Darussalam Technical and Vocational Education Council (BDTVEC) made their way to International Graduate Studies College (IGS College) in Kiulap yesterday morning to keep abreast on latest developments in the technical and vocational sector.

The council's chairman, Deputy Minister of Education Dato Seri Setia Hj Yusoff Hj Ismail, led the group who were welcomed by Chairman of IGS College Pg Hjh Fatimah PSJ Pg Hj Abdul Momin.

This would be the third visit made by the council this year. Also part of the delegation was Deputy Permanent Secretary (Higher Education) Dr Hj Junaidi Hj Abd Rahman.

In the deputy minister's speech, he said he hopes that the college would diversify the courses or programmes offered so that it would be more innovative and competitive and address the human resource needs in the country.

"In this regard, the need to prepare an infrastructure that is conducive and having a teaching force that is adequate and skilled is much needed to guarantee the effectiveness of learning and teaching of the students," he said.

Dato Hj Yusoff also said that the visit was an opportunity for the council members to closely observe the vocational and technical courses offered at the college.

The visit also provided a platform for a two-way discussion between council members and college faculty and staff, especially on the importance of the relationship between private sector and accredited institutions that offer vocational and technical courses to fulfil private sector needs.

Prior to the deputy minister's speech, Pg Hjh Fatimah also gave the members a briefing on the college's achievements and future plans.

As part of Vision 2035 and the introduction of the New National Education System of the 21st Century (SPN21), she said that they were planning on strengthening their immediate expertise in Information Technology (IT) and Business.

The college will also be diversifying by offering new courses in Multimedia Creativity, Communication and Design Innovative and also working on developing their own courses.

The college is affiliated with Lim Kok Wing University in Malaysia and Pg Hjh Fatimah said that they are looking into more collaboration with local and foreign academic institutions.

An expansion plan is also in the pipeline, she said, where a new administration office will be built around the campus. This plan also includes the construction of a new lobby area, additional 13 classrooms and the procurement of new equipment.

They have also introduced degree courses this year namely Bachelor's in Business Administration, Bachelor of Business in Accounting, Bachelor of Science in Information Technology and Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering with Multimedia.

In terms of passing rates, she said that majority was 95 per cent and sometimes they even reached 100 per cent.

She added that the only reason why it didn't reach 100 per cent was because of students' attendance.

At present, there are a total of 700 students and 40 full-time staff at the college.

Following the briefing, the deputy minister toured the facilities of the college which include the administrative offices, tutorial room, library and computer hardware and maintenance rooms.

The Brunei Times