History of ISC

From the time UBD opened its doors in 1985, there were already two international students (from Maldives!). Although ISC wasn't born at that time, there was always a need for international students to organize themselves. The first memory of a specialized body looking after the affairs of international students must have been in 1994/1995 period when there was a special office just for international students and there was also the association for International students, at that time, it was referred to as the International Students Association (ISA).

Since then, the ISC (changed 2 years ago when we were placed under PMUBD) has had 4 presidents. However since ISC is a club, most of the members put in valuable service and resources to keep it running through the years.

Some of the greatest achievements of ISC have been: the Sultan's visit to the exhibition in 2000, A Successful International Night 2002, Annual Sports Day, Tour of Brunei's main attractions (2002) among many others which you will see and read of as you read on!!

Executive:

In September 2003, the members of the International Students Club elected a new executive, and the old committee which had done a great job (bravo guys!!) handed the mettle over to the new execs!

Since coming on stream, the new executive has organized various activities to help forge closer ties among international students, plus bridging relations between Bruneians and international students as well as seeking improvements for international students here.

Activities accomplished by the 2002/2003 executive included:

Semester I:

Website for ISC: ISC made history by setting up the first ever International Students Club Webpage as part of the beautiful UBD's website. Through this medium, we have made contacts with both old and new international students! We hope you guys keep on contacting us and supporting us in our nascent endeavors. You can also browse through the previous ISC website

Our Sports Day last semester held on 20th October 2002. The half-day activity was fun-filled and the competitive spirit was high. Four teams (Blue, Green, Red and Yellow) competed for the coveted ISC Sports Day Cup! Each team had flags, pins and mascots to rally their teams into victory. Competition was held in sprint, walking, relay race, lime race, sack race, three-legged race, netball, football, basketball and the hysterical tug of war! At the end of the day, despite great effort by all members, the Red Team emerged victorious beating the defending champions the Yellow Team. Demir Demiri of Kosovo was voted best male athlete, whilst Vania Course of Seychelles emerged best female athlete. Both were from the Red Team. The day ended with an enjoyable prize giving ceremony and picnic.

Newsletter: We distributed our first (and sadly only!) newsletter last semester as well, informing the international students of the various activities and informing them of the various services available at UBD. We hope that this newsletter continues as, this is a way to keep international students abreast of matters, without calling meetings (which we suspect people do not look forward to!)

Semester II (Started January 13th 2003)

International Gala Night 2003: The first and biggest event of the new semester was the organization of the International Gala Night. Held on the 1st of March, this was the event not to be missed, as international students displayed their national wears, sang their traditional songs, and recited poems and participated in dramas. Over 21 different countries had their national/traditional wear displayed on stage: from China to Zimbabwe, Pakistan and India, Maldives and Yemen. The student from Sri Lanka sang a beautiful Singhalese song, whilst the Thai and Malaysian students impressed us with their catchy renditions and intricate hand movements. The student from Dominica entertained the audience with a poem about her experience leaving Dominica and coming to Brunei to pursue studies.

All in all the night was heralded a success. The guest of honor, our Vice Chancellor, Dr Ismail officially opened the ceremony with warm words of advice and encouragement to the ISC. Approximately twelve Ambassadors and High Commissioners as well as their representatives came to support their students from their countries. The guests were also treated to local dishes from the homes of the international students at UBD. To close the ceremony, there was a display of all the flags of all the countries represented here at UBD. It must be said that the flags were designed and constructed by hands and cloth, by our skilled international students headed by Usman from Thailand.

At the end of the ceremony, the international students were able to give each other a pat on the back, as we all worked so hard to make it a reality. Hey we even made the local papers (Borneo Bulletin) for putting on such a great show!!

Tour of Brunei: On April 11th 2003, the International Students Club visited places of interest in this Kingdom of Unexpected Treasures. Although we had planned to visit the main rainforest park in Brunei, the Belalong area in Temburong, due to circumstances beyond our control, we could not do so. Thus we resorted to plan B, which was to visit the Sungai Liang Forest Reserve (we really wanted to visit a forest!) which is a small but fun forest located on the way to Seria in Brunei. Then we visited the oil community, Seria where some students had lunch, mingled with the people there as well as prayed. Then it was off to the increasingly popular Oil and Gas Discovery Center (OGDC), where we were presented with tickets by the officials there and given a warm welcome. We were then given a tour of the Center, which included scientific experiments, mind boggling games and solving scientific problems, and we also learnt more about the oil and gas industry which contributes so greatly to the economy of Brunei.

Presently: International students at UBD love this part of the year as it is the long vacation break of approximately two and a half months. Most visit home after such a challenging work year and particularly the exams just gone; others may opt to remain around and discover sites of interest in Brunei. There are many students who also have work attachments, teaching practice and others are working on their thesis. To all we wish good luck!!

Some of the international students will be leaving us this year. Some will go on to further studies or go on to the world of paid work or perhaps even enjoy a long break trekking all over the world before they face the world of responsibilities out there. ISC would like to extend our wishes for the best in all our graduates' endeavors, whatever you guys decide to do, just be the best and most importantly, be happy!

For those of you who will be joining us at UBD in the new semester 2003, we would like to warmly welcome you and hope that your time here will be productive and you will make the most of this exciting opportunity! If you have any queries or would like some info about ISC contact us at: isc@hep.ubd.edu.bn. As with any other place, being far away from home and your family and friends, its not easy, but UBD provides an excellent opportunity to make some of the coolest and diverse friends you may ever have. Remember to come with an open mind and get ready to experience a new chapter in your life, and whatever the university experience throws at you, try to make the most out of it and use it as an experience to enrich your life right??

For those international students, who have left UBD, we would like to hear what's up with you: where you have been?, what are you doing now? etc…not that we are nosy or anything (really!!). We would use that information to create a network of our past international students and help motivate present international students to attain higher heights (as we imagine you all have??) So drop us a line at our email address ok?

Well its time to say jumpa lagi (goodbye and till we meet again) for this time around. Thanks for visiting and visit us again soon for new and exciting info!!

Peace
ISC Exec

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