Sixth IIUM rector appointed

Tan Sri Dr Dzulkifli Abdul Razak has been appointed as the sixth rector of International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) effective Aug 1.

He replaced Professor Datuk Dr Zaleha Kamarudin who ended her term on July 31.

The Education Ministry, in a statement, said: “We believe that with his experience and leadership, he will be able to steer IIUM towards excellence and place the university as a global centre for reference in Islamic knowledge.”

Prior to his appointment, Dzulkifli was Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) board of governance chairman.

He was the first holder of USIM’s Chair of Islamic Leadership and Principal Fellow at the Faculty of Leadership and Management.

Dzulkifli was also the fifth Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) vice-chancellor from 2000 to 2011.

Under his leadership, USM gained the Accelerated Programme for Excellence status in 2008.

He has received Honorary Doctorates of Science from various universities globally for his contributions to the field of education. The institutions include University of Portsmouth (2008), University of Nottingham (2013) and Mykolas Romeris University in Lithuania (2013).

Last year, he received the 2017 Gilbert Medal from Universitas 21, a network of 25 research-led universities around the world, making him the first from Asia to receive the award.

He was also a weekly columnist for the

from 1995 till 2016.