BRUNEI-MUARA

STUDENTS wishing to pursue higher studies scrambled for information at two United Kingdom education fairs yesterday.

Representatives from UK universities could be seen explaining the various procedures and advantages of their respective higher education institutions to students at The Rizqun International Hotel and The Empire Hotel and Country Club.

Delon Hon, general manager of James Hon Marketing & Management, who is holding the Study in UK Exhibition at The Rizqun Hotel, said that there has been a significant increase of self-funded students wanting to study in the UK.

“There has been a significant increase of private students with the depreciation of the pounds, I don’t have the percentage, but it has been significant,” he said.

This year, 20 universities participated the exbition, compared to 17 last year.

“We are happy with 20, because we don’t want our exhibition to be too big in case the student becomes overwhelmed with choices,” he said.

All the universities, he said, already have other Bruneian students taking various courses.

In terms of postgraduate courses, he said that there have been a lot of focus on education and health courses.

“More people are aware of wanting a healthy lifestyle. There is more focus on nutrition, physiotherapy and pharmacy,” he said.

He added: “With the country wishing to diversify its economy, perhaps there is also an anticipation for a market in medical tourism. Students can become proper medical practitioners and come to Brunei to have health treatments.”

The education courses area response to the National Education System of the 21st Century (SPN21), where a lot of specialists are needed in areas such as creative arts, special needs and early childhood, Hon said.

There have also been a lot of interest in foundation courses, he said. “We have had inquiries from students who have not done extremely well in the ‘O’ levels but want to go to a prestigious top 30 university in the UK,” he said.

He added that UK education is still the top choice for Bruneian students.

“Even the UK universities are coming to Asia and setting up campuses like the Universitiy of Nottingham for instance, has a Malaysian campus,” he said.

Another education fair organised by HRD Services took place at The Empire Hotel, where long queues of students was also evident.

Jidah, one of the visitors waiting in the queue, said that both exhibitions were helpful and representatives from the universities gave a clear idea of what to expect from the universitiy in terms of courses available, accommodation, and entry requirements.

She also said that companies like James Hon or HRD Services make the application process easier and more efficient.

“For example, what takes students 30 minutes to fill an application online can be done in five minutes using services offered by both services,” she said.

However, she wished that the exhibition could be longer and more efficiency in controlling the crowd so that students do not have to wait for a long time.

A student waiting for his ‘O’ levels, Mohd Kahirul, 17, said that he wished that there were more colleges that offered ‘A’ level courses.

“There’s not much colleges in the exhibition and I wish there was because I want to see if I would be able to qualify for an ‘A’ level scholarship overseas,” he said.

Another student, Aqilah Said, said that there were no representatives from the top three UK universities.

“Imperial, Cambridge and Oxford universities are hardly around. I wish they were here, so that we would be able to discuss entry requirements,” she added.

The Brunei Times

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