Phan Le Ha - Globalisation, Education, and Reform in Brunei Darussalam

The International and Development Education Series focuses on the complementary areas of comparative, international, and development education. Books emphasize a number of topics ranging from key higher education issues, trends, and reforms to examinations of national education systems, social theories, and development education initiatives. Local, national, regional, and global volumes (single authored and edited collections) constitute the breadth of the series and offer potential contributors a great deal of latitude based on interests and cutting-edge research. The series is supported by a strong network of international scholars and development professionals who serve on the International and Development Education Advisory Board and participate in the selection and review process for manuscript development.

Series Editors

W. James Jacob, Vice President of Innovation and International, Collaborative Brain Trust, and Fulbright Specialist, World Learning and U.S. Department of State

Deane E. Neubauer, Professor Emeritus, University of Hawaii at Mnoa, and Adjunct Senior Fellow, East-West Center

International Editorial Advisory Board

Clementina Acedo, Webster University, Switzerland

Philip G. Altbach, Boston University, USA

NDri Thrse Assi-Lumumba, Cornell University, USA

Dennis Banda, University of Zambia

Carlos E. Blanco, Universidad Central de Venezuela

Sheng Yao Cheng, National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan

Evelyn Coxon, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Edith Gnanadass, University of Memphis, USA

Wendy Griswold, University of Memphis, USA

Ruth Hayhoe, University of Toronto, Canada

Yuto Kitamura, University of Tokyo, Japan

Jing Liu, Tohoku University, Japan

Wanhua Ma, Peking University, China

Ka Ho Mok, Lingnan University, China

Christine Musselin, Sciences Po, France

Yusuf K. Nsubuga, Ministry of Education and Sports, Uganda

Namgi Park, Gwangju National University of Education, Republic of Korea

Val D. Rust, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

Suparno, State University of Malang, Indonesia

Xi Wang, University of Pittsburgh, USA

John C. Weidman, University of Pittsburgh, USA

Weiyan Xiong, Lingnan University, China

Sung-Sang Yoo, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea

Husam Zaman, UNESCO/Regional Center for Quality and Excellence in Education, Saudi Arabia

Collaborative Brain Trust 45 W South Temple, #307, Salt Lake City, UT 84010, USA

Asian Pacific Higher Education Research Partnership East-West Center 1601 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96848, USA

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Moving to Brunei from the University of Hawaii at Mnoa in the second half of 2018 to take up an appointment as Senior Professor in the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Institute of Education (SHBIE) at Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), I found myself excited, energised as well as challenged by so many things I know so little about in this country, in its education system and the workplace. As a scholar researching, writing and teaching in international and global education more broadly, I would not allow myself to remain uninformed and indifferent to the very place that just became my new home and my new base.

While I proactively looked for readings, websites and newspapers that could help me gain some knowledge about Brunei, I soon realised that the best teachers would be my own colleagues, students , educational institutions and schools in Brunei. I attended as many seminars on campus as possible to learn about various research projects colleagues here were conducting. I sat in classes delivered by other colleagues to educate myself about different programmes and modules. I also helped other colleagues in giving advice and feedback to their students projects. I walked to different units on campus to learn about different offices, their functions and the ways in which they normally operate. I am thankful to every colleague and every student who had their arms and hearts open to me in my first days, weeks and months in Brunei, and until today.