Brunei university pushes undergraduates into entrepreneurship

This is in response to the message from Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, who is also the chancellor of the university. 
At the UTB convocation, the sultan had urged UTB to continue introducing other programmes that could boost the country’s economic development.
This includes efforts to review and revise its curriculum in the field of entrepreneurship.
In an interview, Saleem bin Nazmudeen, dean of UTB’s Business School, said the initiative will prepare future graduates with an entrepreneurial mindset.
Modern economic growth is based on the rapid growth of new small and medium enterprises, but entrepreneurial opportunities cannot be developed and created by a single agency alone, he said.
UTB will be working very closely with Darussalam Enterprise, the Department of Economic Planning and Development and other government and private agencies to ensure students are guided and supported in their business ventures.
An entrepreneurship incubator has also been established by the school to support this initiative.
The core activities of the entrepreneurship initiative include licensing (capitalisation of knowledge) and the creation of new ventures (new firms, start-ups and spin-offs), potentially creating new jobs and other utilisation efforts. 
The ventures will provide UTB graduates with the necessary skills and empowerment to face the competitive economy. 
Students will be equipped with entrepreneurial experience, which can help develop and strengthen their skills such as communication, teamwork and problem-solving.
The entrepreneurship initiative is also hoped to support Brunei’s talent growth as well as contribute to the economic development of the country.
In the long run, the school aspires to become a knowledge hub for entrepreneurs, investors and other stakeholders by building an Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation Centre at the university. 
It also aims to achieve near 100-per-cent employability for graduates through this new entrepreneurship initiative.
During the interview, Haji Saleem also said all the business programmes offered by the Business School highly emphasise outcome-based learning, shifting away from the traditional teaching/learning model.
They are also blended with information systems and technology, which would make UTB graduates more competitive and market-ready once they graduate. 
In today’s world, the success of any business depends on innovation and today’s innovation is driven by information technology, he added.