SMSA's Pride & Joy (1): Nurliza Abd Zabar

I am proud to present to you the first inspirational article in 2012. Nurliza is an ex-SMSAnaian who did not give up and a successor in the UniBridge programme. I hope you all will read and learn her journey as an undergraduate. 

Foreword: All the best for your ‘A’ level results! And, if you are disappointed with your results, I hope my article will inspire you to not give up yet. Indeed, disappointing results are hard to handle and my article is focusing on that issue and beyond.

The transition of a pre-university student to a university student: How did it happen?

I have never felt a greater shock, than I did upon receiving my GCE ‘A’ Levels. With the set of results I got, I knew my direct degree entrance to (no misspellings here) Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) would be rejected due to the lack of points, let alone wanting to apply for an overseas scholarship from the Ministry of Education (MOE) or from other private institutions. Back then, I really thought there were only two choices left for me. It was either to repeat the ‘A’ levels, which was already a hellish nightmare that I refused to go through again, or to find work and stop studying for the rest of my life. Indeed, the results had a great impact on my well-being and my consciousness of studying.

During the depressing times, I stumbled upon UBD’s University Bridging (UniBridge) programme on their official website, which gives people who are not entitled for direct degree entry to UBD a second chance for education. In order to fully understand how UniBridge works, I attended UBD’s Open Day in 2011 for more information about this programme. The people who were in charge of the UniBridge booth were very informative and I was very glad to know that I may have a chance to study again.

I worked part time for a month and a half and realized, being employed at a meager wage is not something that I desire, especially in this country, and I needed to do something to escape. I refused to give up the opportunity to study and tried my luck at applying for UniBridge.

UniBridge was not cheap at first glance, even for local students like me where I had to pay $2000 for this programme. It is a one semester (5 month) full-time programme in which we had to study 4 modules. Being raised by a single mother with 4 other younger siblings, $2000 is not easy money and it is not something to simply waste. $2000 is not just $2000. Imagine that amount which could be used to sustain our needs. I wouldn’t have had to pay any fees if I was offered a direct degree entrance.

After a month or two of waiting, I was finally accepted to UniBridge, and I regarded this as a milestone in my life. Then onwards, I considered myself as a university student, despite not fully a ‘university’ student (no puns intended!). We were briefed by the programme leader about UniBridge and its mechanisms on the orientation day. After the briefing, I knew, by hook or by crook, I had to pass the examinations in order for an unconditional offer to study Bachelor of Arts, a type of degree offered at UBD. I couldn’t risk the $2000 that my mum had stored for emergency purposes and to pay even more if I fail the examinations. It was a ‘do-or-die’ situation for me.

I was conscious of the duration of UniBridge and the amount of work that I had to handle. It was definitely not a walk in a park. From ‘adding’ modules for examinations purposes to completing university level assignments, everything must be done individually. We are responsible for what we do in the programme and have to be aware of changes or announcements. These tasks in some ways have helped me to be a more responsible university student. I don’t expect my lecturers to spoon-feed us as I believe they treat us like any other university students and most of them did no spoon-feeding.

'Adding' modules for examination purposes

In the beginning, I was surprised about lectures and how they were conducted. In previous educational institutions that I have had experience studying in, I was used to a class of 20 to 40 people. Our UniBridge class was very large, about 180 students, so for some lectures, they were conducted at a large lecture hall. Imagine having a lecturer speaking to 180 students, amidst a few chatterboxes at the back. For most of the time, the lecturer just continued teaching and ignored those who refused to pay attention. Attending lectures is really the students’ responsibility and it is entirely up to you if you want to listen or not. Well, it may sound cool to just enter a lecture hall and do nothing (‘Like a Boss’) but the consequences are horrendous. And I knew that I wanted to pay attention so that I would not miss out anything important. But of course, there were also classes with a smaller number of students.

There were times when I wanted to drill my brain with a chainsaw (literally!) because of the complicated assignments, but my lecturers were willing to help me since I asked for their advice. From this experience, I realized that university lecturers would not help you if you did not seek help from them in the first place, as lecturers themselves have research and other priorities. Some of the lecturers may look scary on the surface, but their intention is pure hearted. I would usually email them to set up an appointment before knocking on their office doors as to respect their time.

Along the way I did make new friends. Initially I was paranoid about this because most of the people I met are not from the same school. However, that was not a difficult obstacle to overcome. Since I live quite far from UBD, it was wise for me to stay at hostel instead of commuting back and forth every day for school. Staying at a hostel taught me to be independent as well.

Now that I am a university student at UBD, I have reminisced my times at UniBridge and wondered, “Where would I be now if it was not for that programme?” I might have given up hope on education, which I think is the most important aspect in our lives. I was grateful that I was given a second chance to study and made full use of it. I do see some of my friends who did not go through UniBridge and are one semester ahead of me. Personally, I feel that there’s nothing wrong with being the ‘later’ students to enter UBD, although we graduated together from 6^th form college. It is the matter of determination to do well.

I know the adventure of my university life has just begun. I shall end with a quote from my lecturer: “You give yourself the grades.”

-Nurliza binti Abd. Zabar of SMSA intake 2009.

(Currently majoring in Professional Communications and Media, Minor in Japanese)