University Brunei Darussalam

Over the past decade Universiti Brunei Darussalam has been on an exciting progressive journey of change, from what is fundamentally a teaching university to a first class international university of excellence in teaching and research.

UBD has done well in the QS Asian rankings as we achieved top 20 in five categories of the QS Asian University Rankings, marking an improvement from last year’s rankings where it was top 25 in the same categories. UBD is 1st in Asia for outbound student mobility for the second year in a row, and is 3rd for inbound exchange, 11th for international faculty, 13th for faculty student ratio, and 17th for international students. UBD scored full marks (100%) in three categories – outbound exchange students, inbound exchange students, and international faculty. Our innovative undergraduate programme incorporating a Discovery Year component in which students spend one year of their four year programme outside the university, has proven very successful; judging from the very positive feedback from our external reviewers, employers, professors as well as from the students themselves. It has also resulted in a very multi-cultural campus, with international students accounting for almost twenty percent of our student population.

In education, our undergraduate GenNEXT degree programme emphasises broad-based learning, programmes that cross disciplinary boundaries and real world experiential learning in the form of the Discovery Year. The curriculum ensures that students are exposed to essential life skills such as critical thinking, reasoning, communication, quantitative analysis and with both national and global perspectives. Embedded in all our modules are the three thrust areas of Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Innovation; and Environmental Awareness. This is especially relevant in today’s job market, which values professionals with expertise in multiple disciplines. Staff have become mentors to our students, advising them on selecting courses or even on long-term decisions such as choosing a career path fit for their skill set. They have also brought networking opportunities for our students to international experts or even potential employers by bringing in guests to their lectures to meet their students. Various pedagogy approach such as problem-based learning, team-based learning, project-based learning, work-based learning, and other flipped classroom approaches are implemented.

In research, UBD is fortunate to have the strong support of His Majesty’s government in funding and infrastructure. This entails substantial increase in research funding and the development of infrastructural support as well as ample dedicated leave time for research and conferences. The research funding and facilities at UBD have developed tremendously and consequently lead to a significant increase in graduate students and collaborators coming to UBD to undertake research. With the massive academic mobility including increased joint academic programmes, research collaborations and networks such as iCUBE and Borneo Studies Network (BSN), UBD’s active partnerships with institutions worldwide have contributed to the tremendous improvement in campus life, teaching and research output at the university.