University Technology Brunei (UTB) now a Five-Star University

UTB now a five-Star university
August 15, 2018

UNIVERSITI Teknologi Brunei (UTB) has been recognised as a five-star university based on the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Star Rating System after achieving five Stars overall and five Stars in six out of the seven categories, namely, Teaching, Employability, Internationalisation, Facilities, Social Responsibility and Inclusiveness.

QS has upgraded UTB from a four-star rated university, making it the only university in the Sultanate with five Stars for overall excellence. QS Stars is an international rating system that provides institutions with a broader range of criteria that allows them to stand out in particular areas of excellence.

A total of 208 universities were star-rated this year; 11 universities including Nanyang Technological University (NTU) were rated 5+ Stars and 43 universities including UTB were rated five Stars. Other universities which also achieved five Stars include Boston University in the US; Aston University, the University of Exeter, University of Surrey, University of Strathclyde and University of Stirling in the United Kingdom; University of Canterbury in New Zealand; and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in Malaysia.

There were 12 additional new indicators submitted by UTB, making a total of 64 indicators audited by QS this year.

These 12 new indicators analysed the reputation of programmes offered by UTB based on the feedback of the current and prospective students, academics and employers taken over the last six months. QS also evaluated the qualities, in terms of faculty strength and achievements in accreditations, of the programmes in meeting the minimum enrolment numbers specified by QS. UTB has significantly improved its overall score by 11.2 per cent from last year’s score of 625 through its internationally accredited programmes, quality teaching and highly international research output.

Employability was one of UTB’s best-performing categories and a key component of its success, according to a report provided by QS. UTB received five Stars in this category. In the Social Responsibility category, UTB scored a perfect score of 50 points and five Stars. The university was also awarded full points for its charity work and acts of goodwill.

Though not scoring full five Stars in the Research Category, UTB has made an improvement by scoring two Stars.

Under the newly introduced Strength Programme category, UTB’s Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Computing programme has an excellent employment rate and an outstanding completion rate of 92 per cent in the programme contributed to its score. QS also reported that the university has a stellar satisfaction rate of 95 per cent among its students in the programme which has resulted in full points. UTB has also achieved points for obtaining professional accreditation of the programme by the British Computer Society (BCS).

QS Intelligence Unit collected the data and evaluated it against the QS Stars criteria; UTB has met all the pre-requisites and has been awarded five Stars.

UTB is also ranked at number 57 for Young Global University under 50 years of age and this presents another great achievement as UTB is only 10 years old.

“It is with utmost pleasure that I convey my best wishes to and congratulate Universiti Teknologi Brunei on being benchmarked against some of the world’s reputable universities. But more than this, this university has made leaps and bounds in the recent years that are nothing short of being remarkable.

“As an exemplar of innovation and dynamics, I urge the university to keep up the excellent work. The high standards set especially in the successful hands-on approach are just some of the merits that have placed UTB apart from many others. Once again, congratulations to UTB for making Brunei proud,” said Acting Minister of Education Datin Seri Paduka Dr Hajah Romaizah binti Haji Mohd Salleh.

Vice-Chancellor of UTB Professor Dr Hajah Zohrah binti Haji Sulaiman sees the achievement as an impetus for further growth of the young university on an international stage.

“Alhamdulillah, thanks to the inspiring leadership of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, support of His Majesty’s Government and the hard work of everyone in the university.

“It has been a challenging journey for a fledgling university, but we continue to believe in our potential in making a difference to the higher education landscape.

“UTB is now proud to be in the same league with other renowned universities by being rated five Stars, ranked at number 165 in Asia and 442 in the world.”

This recent achievement is also in line with the titah by His Majesty during the UTB Convocation Ceremony in 2017 where the monarch highlighted the need for UTB to multiply its internationalisation efforts in order to attract more foreign students to the university.

Besides working towards getting UTB’s programmes fully accredited, the QS Star rating is one of its efforts to put UTB in the world education map which will consequently attract foreign students to the university.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin