Contributing
towards sustainable national development
THE vice-chancellor of Institut Teknologi
Brunei (ITB) highlighted that ITB academics can play a bigger role in
contributing to a sustainable national development.
Dato Paduka Dr Hj Omar Hj Khalid said that
these academics can take on researches relating to advances in engineering and
technology so that these researches can be used to develop sustainable national
industries.
Speaking at the Brunei International
Conference on Engineering and Technology (BICET), the vice-chancellor said,
"Sustainability is the catchword often used nowadays," he said,
"given the many pressing issues confronting mankind in the 21st Century,
with rapid resource depletion and environmental degradation in many spots
around the world."
Dato Dr Hj Omar said that people took for
granted that (such) resources were readily available to provide solutions to
our contemporary problems.
"The major issue is our continued heavy
reliance on non-renewable resources that are depleting at an unsustainable
rate," he said.While stressing that "there is an urgent need for
innovative engineering and technological solutions that focus on recycling
these critical resources, as well as solutions that only utilise renewable
resources," he pointed out that these "can only be achieved by
realigning our strategic focus, commitment, resource planning and mobilising
our academics to work in collaboration with key stakeholders."
"I believe that ITB can ...contribute to
the study and develop 'clean technologies'," he said, "rather than
technologies that are not sustainable, that requires further 'cleaning
technologies' to control and reduce wastage and pollution," he added.
He explained that clean technologies require
the addition of existing production processes referred to as 'end-of-pipe
technologies and control devices'; while non-sustainable technologies are
technologies that alter production processes, inputs to the process and
products themselves so that they are more environmentally benign.
"I believe that (clean) technologies are
preferable to end-of-pipe technologies because they avoid the need to extract
and concentrate toxic material from the waste stream and deal with it," he
said.
"The key element to generate growth for
instance in economics, social or education is sustainability, and to ensure
sustainability there must be advances in engineering and technology" in
order "to be developed in all spheres of our lives", he stressed.
Taking on the theme of "Sustainable
Development Through Advances in Engineering and Technology", the two-day
BICET aims to provide a platform for the exchange of research work and findings
in the field of engineering and technology as well as providing an opportunity
to explore the potential for collaborative research between conference
participants.
Held at the Rizqun International Hotel, the
conference was attended by more than 150 participants comprising academics,
senior government officers and representatives from private sectors.The
conference ends today.
ITB is the only university in Brunei that
offers degree, Master's and PhD programmes in Engineering and Technology. In
the future, the university will be offering higher diplomas and more local
degree programmes in its areas of expertise as well as taught Master's
programmes.
In addition to the introduction of new
programmes, the university has identified the following research clusters,
namely electrical power and energy, product and manufacturing, electronics,
communication and computer, business and industrial management, and civil,
environment and sustainability.
The aims of these research clusters are to
strengthen the university's capability in its area of competence, to be the
leading engineering and technology university and to help Brunei in its Vision
2035. The research activities are undertaken either internally or externally in
both the public and private sectors. These activities intends to further
strengthen ITB's links with industry.
DIYANA IBRAHIM
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
The Brunei Times
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