UBD Student Council 'agent of change'

THE Students' Council of Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) can serve as a platform to bring about positive changes to the university.Former Persatuan Mahasiswa/Mahasiswi Universiti Brunei Darussalam (PMUBD) President, Nurfairuz Nazri Salleh, 23, explained that the council provided opportunities for the students to carry out their own activities, help organise events, raise money for charity and much more. "Students of the university are the ones who are supposed to make and create the change," he said.

The council, he added, also becomes the "voice" of the students, meaning that the council brings their suggestions and grievances to the university's Student Affairs Section (HEP) so that they can be resolved.

However, he lamented that despite having the "power" to bring issues to the fore, unfortunately, some students seemed to like criticising the council through informal channels, such as websites.

"We want this culture to change," he said.

"We want the students to come to us personally and tell us the problem so we can work out the issues within the university itself."

Social Service and Welfare Exco Shafiee Yakob, 19, said that not all members of PMUBD members were willing to take up the role as agents of change.

He said that only about 80 per cent of them did, while the other 20 per cent just did not know how to use their council or just did not want to be involved. "We need the 20 per cent to make our university better," he said.

According to former PMUBD members, more clubs have been set up at UBD thanks to the collaborative efforts between the council and the HEP.

Several former PMUBD members spoke to the The Brunei Times about how being involved in club activities has further nurtured the aspirations of the university "So far there have been more than 50 clubs in UBD which are active compare to only 30 clubs before," said the PMUBD Academic Executive Committee (Exco) for 2008/2009, Norasilah Othman. The more clubs there are, the more active the students have become, the second-year student said, adding that this was a very good thing for the university's reputation.

According to the 21-year-old, some of the students even went overseas to countries such as Korea and Malaysia.

The Brunei Times