The renaming of Institute of Medicine to Pengiran Anak Puteri Rashidah Sa’adatul Bolkiah Institute of Health Sciences, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, will be etched in history as a significant milestone for higher education in the medical field.
The renaming ceremony was officiated by HRH Princess Hajah Rashidah Sa’adatul Bolkiah herself. Accompanying Her Royal Highness was HRH Princess Hajah Majeedah Nuurul Bolkiah.

The Vice Chancellor of UBD, Dr Haji Zulkarnain Haji Hanafi in his welcoming address said the Institute of Medicine was established in 2000 in line with the government’s vision to provide medical training for Brunei citizens and foreign students. The first intake had only 18 students taking programmes identical to University of Queensland’s Biomedical Science.

He added that since 2004, Masters Degree in Health has been introduced and supported by universities in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. Currently, there are 414 students including students from Pengiran Anak Puteri Rashidah Sa’adatul Bolkiah Nursing College studying at the institute as of 2009.

Dr Haji Zulkarnain reiterated that in the efforts to enhance the quality of medical training in the relevant fields, the institute has developed relations with various other universities around the globe which include the University of Glasgow, University of Southhampton, Kagawa University and the University of Melbourne.

The efforts, he said, are aimed at strengthening the medical training quality at Pengiran Anak Puteri Rashidah Sa’adatul Bolkiah Institute of Health Sciences as the institute has successfully become the focal centre in the Southeast Asian region for post-graduate examinations in the Faculty of Family Medicine, a Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners (International), United Kingdom.

The vice chancellor further explained that since 2009, UBD has made revisions to its curriculum to further stabilise it and adjust contents in the training to fit the needs of the country as well as the dynamics of the global medical training.

The institute has introduced a curriculum that is broad-based involving the close cooperation between faculties to provide students with a wide scope of knowledge and relevancy, he said adding that, “as a result, the medical institute is without exception from changes in providing training that continues to fulfil the medical needs in line with the generation”.

Meanwhile, the institute has also emphasised on the study concept that concentrates on a students’ initiative, research projects as well as innovative assessment.

UBD has also organised 10 research groups and three of them are from the medical institute in the field of cancer, obesity and life as well as research related to diseases most relevant to the country, which include diabetes and heart diseases.

It is hoped that through the research, the institute’s reputation will be enhanced in the international level and the researches would bring benefits to the community.

Dr Haji Zulkarnain also revealed that UBD is in the process of developing and would have a number of new infrastructure and facilities in the coming years and the medical institute is one of them.

He said the institute would have an additional building in two to three years and hoped that the efforts made would upgrade the value of the programme to a high level, expanding the research scope in line with UBD’s vision to become among the 50 top universities in Asia.

The ceremony proceeded with HRH Princess Hajah Rashidah officiating the building and renaming of the institute to Pengiran Anak Puteri Rashidah Sa’adatul Bolkiah Institute of Health Sciences.

HRH Princess Hajah Rashidah and HRH Princess Hajah Majeedah were also given a tour of the new medical institute building.

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