The British Council held their annual Education UK Exhibition on Wednesday 25 January, with 34 participating British universities and colleges at the 

Indera Samudra Grand Hall, the Empire Hotel and Country Club.

In an interview with Brudirect.com, Ben Boody, Acting British High Commissioner, stated that the UK remains the first choice for Bruneians.

“This is something important to our government and we make sure that this continues to happen”

He continued “This goes down to three things:

The quality of education , as UK Universities are world renowned for having some of the world’s best universities and cutting edge research as the UK is a hot bed for not only business but also for fashion, music and film.

Reassurance, the UK is a known country to Brunei, many top Brunei leaders graduated from the UK such as people in judiciary, business people, so this proves that Bruneians do well in British universities and are globally employable.

 We have a huge Muslim population. Bruneian students find it as an easy place to settle where there mosque available and also towns like Birmingham where there are a lot of Halal foods everywhere”

The economic downturn and media sensationalism of racism and islamophobia, it is not expected to affect students going to study as the UK is still a safe and secure place with a huge muslim population.

According to Claire Walker, Director of Education and Society at the British Council Malaysia

“I think it is important also to remember that there are approximately 2000 Brunei students in the UK and so there is that connection between Bruneians and the UK and there’s people who are there who knows that it is safe. The institutions and the community are very welcoming to a very diverse range of people. Also, is it important to remember that the UK higher education institutions need the diversity of international students. It is a very important part of UK students to be mixing with people from other cultures as well.  The UK really does value having students from Brunei and other countries as well. “

She also mentions that, there has been a slight decrease in the number of Students going to the UK and this is not only for Brunei but other countries as well.

“Despite of the recent changes in policies of scholarships in terms of scholarship vs loans. As society gets used to the ideas of the loan, the UK will still continue to be number 1 choice and throughout the period we still retain with over 80% of Bruneians still going overseas.”

The Education UK exhibition seeks to continue to serve as a one-stop-shop for future scholars and their families.

Source:
@BRUDIRECT.COM

by RS @Brudirect.com

If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]