Strengthening Collaborative Strategies & Cooperation at the 1st MISC-WG ICT Retreat

Group Photo with members of MISC-WG ICT

The Manpower Industry Steering Committee Working Group for ICT Sector (MISC-WG ICT) held its first retreat of the year on 1 November 2022. The retreat was initiated and facilitated by the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI) as the Secretariat of the MISC-WG ICT. The objectives of the half-day event, which took place in Bandar Seri Begawan, were to re-assess the current and past programmes, address manpower issues faced by the ICT sector and identify future programmes that will be in line with the needs and future demand of manpower in the nation.

Present at the event were Yang Mulia Ir. Haji Jailani bin Haji Buntar, Chief Executive of AITI and Yang Mulia Pengiran Sarimah binti Pengiran Hj Abdul Latiff, Chairman of InfoCom Federation Brunei (IFB) as the Co-leads of MISC-WG ICT. A total of fourteen (14) members from the government, industry, institutes of higher learning and training providers participated in the retreat. Also present was the Manpower Planning and Employment Council (MPEC) Secretariat.

Since the formation of the MISC-WG ICT in August 2020, the members have work hand-in-hand to deliver the mandate given by the MISC under MPEC. Among others, it is to understand the type and number of jobs demanded by MISC sectors which leads to the identification of critical occupations, where the working group has worked tirelessly with various industry stakeholders to co-develop critical job competencies aligned with the industry’s standards and requirements. This is evident with the successful launch of the Brunei ICT Industry Competency Framework (BIICF).

Ultimately, the working group aims to see an increase in talented local graduates and pursuing their careers in Brunei Darussalam. In order to do that, there is an urgent need to bridge the gap on the manpower supply and demand situation in the country. The group needs to re-strategise and develop more collaborative strategies in order to spur more impactful outcomes from the programmes under the MISC-WG ICT, such as the first Brunei coding academy, Coding.bn Cohort 1, where 75% of the participants were successfully hired by the industry.

By the end of the session, the group has identified several key programmes and projects to be developed further and to be implemented in the next few years. The MISC-WG ICT will continuously work together to ensure the development of digital and ICT programmes that will address the issues of unemployment and manpower in the local ICT landscape.