Speakers

IHEC2023 Managing Higher Education for the Future

Round Table 1

Managing Universities for the Future

Prof. Dr. Fasli Jalal 

Rector

University YARSI, Indonesia

Prof. Dr. Fasli Jalal, is the current President of YARSI University and the former Vice Minister of the National Education of the Republic of Indonesia from 2010 to 2011. He is also a lecturer in the Department of Early Childhood Education for the Doctoral Program at Jakarta State University. 

He served as Head of the National Population and Family Planning Board from 2013 to 2015 and Director General of Higher Education at the Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Indonesia for two years, from 2007 to 2010. He has also been a Professor in Clinical Nutrition Department, at the Faculty of Medicine, Andalas University, West Sumatra, since 2009. He received his PhD in Public Health Nutrition with minors in Epidemiology and Southeast Asian Studies from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, in 1991. 

After finishing his doctoral studies, Fasli Jalal started his career in the government in 1991 as Head of the Department of Nutrition, Bureau of Health and Nutrition, National Planning and Development Board, Republic of Indonesia. In 2000, he was appointed by the Minister of National Education to become his senior advisor in Educational Resources. His career at the Ministry of National Education continued developing. In 2001 he was appointed Director General of Non-Formal Education and Youth. In 2005 he was made Director General of Quality Improvement for Teachers and Education Personnel before being given the post of Director General of Higher Education in November 2007. The President appointed him as the ViceMinister of National Education in January 2010. 

During his professional career, Fasli Jalal has worked actively as a consultant with international organisations such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Fasli Jalal has an avid interest in youth education development and always gives a warm welcome to youth organisations that need advice or direction to develop their organisation. He is also active as a counsellor at the IndonesiaCanada World Youth Exchange Alumni, where in 2001, he received the Most Outstanding Alumni Award from the Canada World Youth, Montreal. 

In 2010, Fasli Jalal was awarded the Henry-Kauffman Prize for his contribution to education development, especially in Eastern Indonesia. He is the first person to receive this award. He also received the state award Medali Kepeloporan and the state decoration Bintang Mahaputera Utama from the state and government of Indonesia in 2014. Despite his busy schedule, Fasli Jalal still writes and edits opinion pieces in mass media, academic articles and books. His special interests are education, early childhood education and nutrition. 

Prof. Dr. Muhammad T. Afzal 

Rector

COMSATS Unviersity Islamabad, Pakistan

Prof. Dr. Muhammad Tabassum Afzal has rendered more than 25 years of meritorious services as teacher, researcher and academic leader in institutions of higher learning abroad in Canada and Japan.

During a long illustrious career, Prof. Afzal held several academic and administrative positions and contributed substantially towards the advancement of University research as well as elevating the standards of quality education.

Prof. Afzal is a reputed scientist, internationally recognised for insightful leadership and applied research. He has played a key role in developing a state-of-the-art bioenergy and bioproducts research lab in Canada as well as in the design of several innovative microwave heated reactors in collaboration with his research team. 

Prof. Afzal's research is focused on thermo-chemical conversion and design and development of novel technologies to produce renewable fuels, chemicals and value-added products and materials. His research interests are primarily in sustainable process modelling and process optimization for applications in automotive, food, chemical, health and pharmaceutical industry. 

In Canada, Prof. Afzal has won highly prestigious peer reviewed natural sciences research grants both individually and in collaboration with other scientists. He has executed several contracts in collaboration with the industry and his research has been translated with consistent publications in highly reputable peer-reviewed international journals having a solid record of accomplishment. 

Prof. Afzal is an active scholar with international exposure, having visited and presented his work in 20 countries across North America and Europe. He is also a technical reviewer of several granting agencies and over 20 reputable international research journals.

Prof. Afzal is highly motivated to helping students, faculty and staff excel and contribute to the society not only as professionals but also engage as responsible citizens in the cultural context of Pakistan and deliver excellence in higher education and industry driven research.

He is currently serving as Rector of COMSATS University Islamabad, a leading world ranked public sector university of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of Pakistan.

Prof. Dr. Shia Ben Chang 

Deputy Vice Chancellor

Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan

Prof. Shia Ben-Cahng (Hsieh Pang-Chang) is a renowned expert in the field of data mining and a world-famous statistician who has made significant contributions to the field. He holds various positions, including Vice President of Resource and Business Development, Director of Management Development Division, and Director of AI Development Center at Fu Jen Catholic University. He also serves as the Chairman of the Taiwan Association for Artificial Intelligence Development, Honorary Chairman of the Chinese Market Research Association, and Honorary Chairman of the Chinese Data Mining Association, among other academic and industrial positions.

Professor Shia's academic achievements and contributions are widely recognized and respected. He is a leading figure in the field of data mining and a world-renowned statistician who has published nearly 300 papers on statistics and data mining, as well as nearly 50 related books. His academic and social contributions have made significant contributions to Taiwan's and the world's academic and industrial communities.

Dr. Dheeba Moosa 

Deputy Vice Chancellor

Islamic University of Maldives

Dr. Dheeba Moosa, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation) at Islamic University of Maldives has the administrative portfolio to oversee, promote and facilitate all research activities at IUM. Her education has given her a strong background in TESOL, linguistics and qualitative research. 

She has over 20 years of experience in the field of education and higher education, more specifically teaching of English language, Linguistics and research methods at various levels. She also has strong management skills especially in dealing with people and mentoring them through application of modern leadership and management ideas like motivation, clarity in communication and easy personal inter-relations. 

 Dr Dheeba has contributed to the higher education sector of Maldives in many ways including the role of lecturer in both public universities in the Maldives and the Dean of IUM prior to being appointed as the DVC of IUM in 2019. She has also contributed to the formulation of Higher Education Master Plan and published a number of academic articles. 

She continues to engage in research. She played a key role in the publishing of IUM’s first and only academic journal “Al Manhaj: A Journal of Multidisciplinary Research” and contributed to it as the editor until 2019. Dr Dheeba is a member of National Health Research Council, International Institute of Risk Management and Crisis Strategies (IIRMACS) and Zakath Scholarship Committee in Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Maldives. 

Prof. Dr. Mohammad Kassim 

Deputy Vice Chancellor

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Prof. Dr. Mohammad B. Kassim, a bachelor (honours) in Chemical Science with Energy & Fuels (1993) from Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada and a Master of Science (Chemistry) (2005) from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. He was awarded a PhD (Inorganic & Coordination Chemistry) by the University of Bristol, United Kingdom in 2003. Currently, he serves as the Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology (2018-2021) and was previously appointed as a Visiting Professor at the University of Tsukuba (2019), Specially Appointed Professor at Osaka University (2018), Visiting Professor at Gifu University (2017), and Visiting Researcher at University of Sheffield (2011). He has expertise in coordination chemistry, molecular electronics, photoelectrochemistry, and CO2 conversion & utilization.

Prof. Dr. Jason Fitzsimmons 

Vice Chancellor

Manipal International University Malaysia

Prof. Dr. Fitzsimmons comes with over 15 years of experience in higher learning institutions and during that period he has held senior academic roles with extensive experience in international student recruitment, program development, academic collaborations, executive education programs and integration of technology in learning environments. 

He was leading MAHE Dubai as an Academic President for almost 7 years and in fact he was with Manipal Group for the past 10 years. He has also served GlobalNxt University as the Dean, School of Business.

Prior to joining Manipal Group, he was attached with established universities in Australia as the Director of MBA Programmes & Alumni Relations Office, Head of School and also Adjunct Professor for over 10 years. Dr. Jason holds an MBA (Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management) and a PhD in Physics from Queensland University of Technology, Australia. 

Prof. Dato' Dr. Azhar Ismail 

Vice Chancellor

Nilai University

Professor Dato’ Dr. Azhar Bin Ismail has more than a three-decade career as an entomologist at Mardi and the Malaysian Cocoa Board. Before he was appointed the Vice-Chancellor of the Nilai University, he was the Director-General of the Malaysian Cocoa Board and was at the helm for more than 10 years.

Professor Dato’ Dr. Azhar did his undergraduate degree in Entomology at the University of California, Davis and continued his graduate degrees of Masters and PhD in Entomology at the Washington State University. He served as an Adjunct Professor with the Department of Crop Protection at University Putra Malaysia in Serdang Selangor. Also, he was the President of the Entomological Society of Malaysia (Entoma) in 2001-02.

As a Vice-Chancellor of Nilai University, Professor Dato’ Dr. Azhar will oversee all aspects of the university’s operation, especially in teaching, research and public service mission. He looks forward to boldly leading the university to new heights in academic excellence, public visibility and upward mobility for students from all backgrounds.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zhang Ying 

Vice President

Xiamen University, Malaysia

In 2004, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zhang Ying received her bachelor degree from Department of Chemistry, State University of New York College at Cortland USA; master degree and PhD degree from Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Cornell University in the year of 2006 and 2009, respectively, and then she became a Post-Doctoral Associate and Research Associate in Division of Nutrition and Science of Cornell University until the end of 2012.   

In 2013, she became the Administrator of Foreign Affairs in the Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (iChEM) at Xiamen University in China. In April 2016, she began working with Xiamen University Malaysia (XMUM) as the Deputy Director of Academic Affairs. She was subsequently promoted to Assistant President in 2017 and later to Vice President in 2022.

She manages the Department of Human Resources, Academic Affairs, and international affairs. Besides performing duties as delegated by the President, as Associate Professor of Chemistry programme, she conducts and leads original research, to publish research findings in international journals.