Brunei Darussalam, its name meaning “Brunei, the abode of peace”, is ASEAN’s smallest country in terms of population, with only 429,000 people in 2018, and second smallest in terms of landmass after Singapore.

Brunei is an Islamic monarchy ruled by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah who has absolute authority over the country’s institutions. Brunei was granted full independence from its status as a British protectorate in 1984. It was once a formidable empire that dominated the entirety of Borneo as a Malay sultanate with connections to the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and the Philippines, but contracted following the expansion of European colonialism. Wedged between the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak on the north of Borneo, Brunei’s demographics and language environment are similar to neighbouring Malaysia’s, with Malay and English being the dominant languages, with the exception that Malay written in the Jawi script still enjoys institutional recognition in Brunei. Culture in Brunei has a long history of influence from the Malay Peninsula, which is also true of its history in the field of education, where it often looks to Malaysia and Singapore as role models and as sources from which to import educational resources.¹ Brunei’s small population enjoys one of the highest standards of living in Asia and the world, with a GDP per capita of USD64,673, no income tax and full subsidy for higher education. Brunei’s economic prosperity is mostly attributed to its plentiful gas and oil reserves, exports of which totalled USD5.116 billion in 2017.² Its energy industry has also been a major provider of jobs for university graduates as well as opportunities for foreign direct investment.

Brunei’s higher education system is relatively small, with five public and two private higher education institutions (HEIs). Its flagship university, the University of Brunei Darussalam (UBD) was established in 1985 soon after independence. As of 2017, Brunei’s total enrolment was 12,135 students, a majority of whom were female, at 59%.³ UBD is by far the largest HEI in the country and enrols approximately half of the country’s university students. All schools and HEIs in Brunei are required to abide by its bilingual language policy of instruction in English and Bahasa Melayu (the standard Malay from Peninsular Malaysia, not the Brunei dialect). All HEIs are overseen by the Ministry of Education (MOE) and Ministry of Religious Affairs, as several HEIs are either religious universities or maintain religious curricula (e.g., Sultan Sharif Ali Islamic University). All universities and TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) institutions are respectively required to be accredited by the Brunei Darussalam National Accreditation Council (BDNAC) and the Brunei Darussalam Technical and Vocational Education Council (BDTVEC).⁴

One of the key features of Brunei’s higher education system, along with its primary and secondary system, is that the Bruneian government provides full subsidy for all tuition, making higher education free for citizens regardless of socioeconomic status. An assortment of scholarships and funding programmes also allow Bruneian students to pursue undergraduate and graduate studies at universities overseas in addition to those in Brunei. In 2019, the MOE was allotted a budget of BND735 million, most of which went to staff salaries and recurring expenses, and only BND19,582,660 was devoted to developmental projects.⁵ There was no data on how much was given to HEIs.

Following the precedent of its larger neighbour Malaysia, in 2004 Brunei launched the Wawasan Brunei 2035 (Brunei Vision 2035) master development plan, which calls for Brunei to be recognised for its “highly educated and skilled people”. In 2014, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah reasserted the importance of monitoring the nation’s progress in implementing the vision, and established an advisory council composed of multiple government agencies. The first goal of the vision, which is directly related to education, comes under the responsibility of the MOE, Ministry of Religious Affairs and Manpower Council. The focus on monitoring and assessment also holds implications for the use of technology and transparency of data in education reform.

In 2018, the MOE released the Strategic Plan 2018-2022, which sets out three main strategic objectives:⁶

1. Transform human resources organisation to a “performance-driven culture”
2. Provide equal and equitable access to quality education
3. Enhance shared accountability with stakeholdersin teaching and learning development

Many of these changes will be implemented by the adoption of new information systems that monitor faculty and staff’s performance. The strategic plan emphasises the growth of the knowledge economy and a push towards use of big data, which can be used to create an effective human resource performance management and appraisal system. Considering Brunei’s noticeable gender gap in enrolment, the MOE aims to narrow this gap by improving access for male students and “at-risk” and “disadvantaged” learners at all educational levels.

Beyond the scope of higher education, Brunei’s job market has been unable to provide a diverse set of jobs for university graduates, which has led to an exodus of Bruneians with advanced degrees. In 2017, the Brunei Energy and Industry Department launched JobCentre Brunei, a platform to help match local graduates with private companies to boost employment and marketability of graduates and foster new apprenticeships. To sync the needs of the labour market with practices of HEIs, the MOE is not only working with energy officials, but aims to implement a “Labour Management Information System” to provide data to universities on the needs of the local job market, so that HEIs can shift enrolment away from low-needs to in-demand courses.

Internationalisation

In 2011, UBD launched the GenNEXT programme, a mandatory curriculum for third-year undergraduate students to either engage in an overseas exchange programme, internship, community outreach or incubation programme.⁷ UBD has also been at the forefront of Brunei’s internationalisation efforts, as it is active in attracting foreign stu-dents and faculty. In 2017, 33.8% of lecturers in Brunei’s HEIs were non-citizens. In addition to being an active member of the ASEAN university network, UBD also provides attractive scholarships for foreign graduate students, including tuition waivers, monthly stipends and research funding.

COVID-19 Impact

Though Brunei was among the lucky few nations to have been minimally impacted by COVID-19, the pandemic caused closure of all HEIs. The pandemic also proved to be a test of the nation’s ICT (Information and Communications Technology) infrastructure’s ability to cope with a sudden shift to e-learning. It also expedited the need to meet goals of upgrading infrastructure set in place by Wawasan Brunei 2035 and the MOE’s Strategic Plan. With the widespread shift to online learning, some instructors have been required to record online lessons and submit them to relevant oversight committees, making for an additional layer of performance monitoring.⁸