Singapore PM visits UBD

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BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: The Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Lee Hsien Loong and his wife, Madam Ho Ching made a fruitful visit to Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) yesterday as part of the prime minister’s official three-day visit to the Sultanate, Borneo Bulletin reported.

He was greeted upon arrival at the Chancellor Hall, UBD by the Minister of Education, Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Hj Awg Abu Bakar bin Hj Apong as Chairman of the UBD Council, and the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Education and Vice Chancellor of UBD, Dato Paduka Dr Hj Zulkarnain bin Hj Hanafi.

Also present was the Minister of Industry and Primary Resources, Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Utama Dato Seri Setia Awg Hj Yahya bin Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Hj Bakar.

The entourage was led to a closed door session on the first floor of the Chancellor Hall. They were entertained with a Tausyeh and silat performance by UBD undergraduates at the lobby area.

UBD has close academic collaboration with the National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University and Singapore ManagementUniversity underthe AseanUniversity Network. These academic collaborations also include a study abroad programme, a student exchange programme as well as internships. Two UBD students are currently undergoing their Discovery year in Singapore.

Prime Minister Lee and delegation visited the new building of the Pengiran Anak Puteri Rashidah Sa’adatul Bolkiah (PAPRSB) Institute of Health Sciences located on the UBD campus. Prime Minister Lee also joined UBD students in a teleconference with the National University of Singapore (NUS) at the UBD Global Classroom.

UBD also collaborates closely with NUS under the International Consortium of Universities for the Study of Biodiversity and the Environment (iCUBE), of which NUS is one of the co-founding members.

The first Global Classroom held in UBD was on September 11 at the ICTC when Chair Professor David Koh delivered the inaugural lecture in a module entitled ‘International Perspectives of Environmental and Occupational Health Issues”. The global health classroom offers a simultaneous videoconference link of UBD to universities in five sites in Asia.

This allows for real-time participation, communication, and roundtable discussion of faculty and graduates. A big advantage is that the universities are all in the same time zone, so that weekly classes can be held at the same time in the afternoons.

This international module has been successfully held with the various universities since 2006. To date, there have been over 30 experts from different fields who have taught in the classes, and around 200 participants at various sites around the world.

UBD is the newest partner and participant to this endeavour. Students and faculty now have the opportunity to interact with renowned experts from leading universities in the region and participants from a large number of countries – making this truly a global health classroom, a press release stated.