2nd e-Gov't exec training launched

THE second e-Government Executive Training Programme 2011 was launched yesterday at the university's Institute of Leadership, Innovation and Advancement (ILIA).

The programme, organised by the e-Government Innovation Centre (eG.InC) of Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), sees 14 participants comprising Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and Chief Technical Officers (CTOs) from various ministries.

The main educational objective of the programme is to systematically provide appropriate knowledge and skills with a view of creating Information Communication Technology (ICT) awareness so that the high ranking officials can fully understand and initiate smart e-Government and citizen oriented e-Service delivery.

What is meant by e-Service delivery is as follows: creating awareness of recent ICT trends, spreading technology trends and advanced cases, understanding of strategy of IT based green e-government and its infrastructure, strengthening the leadership of managers to play a leading role in initiating green IT, understanding of state-of-the-art methodology for satisfying citizen and its skills as well as understanding of national informatisation strategies and cases.

The programme will run every Saturday for the next 13 weeks and as part of the programme participants will also visit South Korea for an onsite training to provide them with the opportunity to learn from the Korean best practices in rolling out their e-Government projects.

The curriculum of the programme includes a range of modules such as ICT governance, legal framework, security and privacy, green growth and data centre management.

Under the programme, the participants will do group projects to showcase their ability in relating and applying the knowledge gained in the programme to the actual e-Government scenario in Brunei. The programme also provides a platform for participants to better understand each other, identify common interests and issues and collaborate in working towards integrated e-Government initiatives.

Present as the guest of honour was the Deputy Permanent Secretary (Upstream) of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Hj Azhar Hj Yahya.

The event was preceded with the recitation of Surah Al-Fatihah followed by an opening speech by Dr Hazri Hj Kifle, the Dean of the Faculty of Business, Economics and Policy Studies of UBD in which he talked about the contents of the programme.

The opening speech proceeded with the guest of honour's speech. In his speech, Hj Azhar mentioned that role of CIOs and CTOs is evolving and they must also continually look at how they can find new ways for information to add value, and catalyse the development of new e-services and delivery channels.

Also present at the event was the Korean Ambassador to Brunei, Byung-Koo Choi. The Korean Ambassador also delivered a speech where he talked about how e-Government developed in Korea. He also shared how e-Government in Korea has progressed and is currently advancing into its final stage of development.

At the end of the Ambassador's speech, a student representative from the first e-Government Executive Training Programme, Hjh Mariah Hj Mohd Taha, was invited to share her experiences and perspectives of the programme.

Hjh Mariah advised participants of the second training to take the opportunity to learn from the lecturers and their experiences for the betterment of e-Government in Brunei. The Brunei Times