Speaker: Y.B. Dato' Seri Idris Jusoh (Minister of Higher Education)
Y.B. Dato’ Seri Idris Bin Jusoh was appointed Minister of Higher Education at the Ministry of Higher Education, in July 2015. Prior to this, he was the Second Education Minister, Chairman of Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA), Chief Minister of Terengganu and Deputy Minister of Entrepreneurial Development. Y.B. Dato’ Seri Idris Jusoh is also currently Member of Parliament for the constituency of Besut, Terengganu, his hometown.
He holds an MBA in Finance from the University of New Haven, US, and a degree in Social Sciences (Economics and Management) from Universiti Sains Malaysia. He studied Arabic at the University of Jordan in 1994 and has attended Advanced Management Programs (AMP) in Harvard (2001) and INSEAD, France (2008), and the Leadership in Developing Countries Program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in 2009.
Speaker: Prof Dato' Dr Musa Ahmad (Vice-Chancellor VU5, USIM)
Prof. Dato’ Dr. Musa Ahmad obtained his first degree in Chemistry from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) with first class honours, whereas his MSc (Instrumentation & Analytical Science) and PhD (Optical Chemical Sensor) degree were obtained from The University of Manchester, England. He has been serving UKM for more than 20 years as an academician and administrator, the latest as Dean of Faculty of Science and Technology (December 2008 – May 2010). Currently he is holding a post as Vice Chancellor at Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) since August 2014. He is also a Fellow of Malaysia Science Academy, Executive Council of Malaysia Laboratory Academia-Business Collaboration, Fellow of Malaysia Institute of Chemistry and National Fatwa Committee for Islamic Religious Affairs.
As an academician, he has shown an excellence progress in teaching, supervision, publication, research and consultancy. He main research interest is in the field of chemical optical sensing and optical biosensing. The finding from his research has won more than 20 awards at R&D exhibitions either at the national or international levels, which include International Invention Exhibition at Geneva, Switzerland, World Exhibition of Innovation, Brussels, Belgium and INSPEX Invention in Cleaning Products/Equipment, USA. Some of these products have been highlighted at local newspapers and TV stations. To date, he has published over 200 articles in the form of books, journal papers and conference proceedings.
Speaker: Prof. Dato' Sri Dr. Zaleha Kamaruddin (Rector of IIUM)
Prof. Dato’ Sri Dr. Zaleha Kamaruddin obtained her LL.B (Hons) from University Malaya in 1985, Master’s Degree in Comparative Laws and Advanced Diploma in Sharia Law and Practice from the International Islamic University Malaysia, and her PhD in Comparative Laws at UCL, London University in 1994. She was admitted as Advocate and Solicitor' of the High Court of Malaya in 1986. She has served the International Islamic University Malaysia for more than 28 years in various capacities. Before her appointment as the Rector of IIUM she was the Dean of the Ahmad Ibrahim Faculty of Laws, Dean of the Centre for Postgraduate Studies, and then Deputy Director-General of the Malaysian Institute of Islamic Understanding.
Prof. Dato' Sri Dr. Zaleha is a member of the Fatwa Committee for the State of Pahang and Selangor. Since 2003, she has been a member of the Selangor Council of Religious Affairs (MAIS). At the Federal level, she is a member of the Technical Committee on Sharia and Civil Laws, Department of Islamic Religious Affairs, Prime Minister’s Department and serves as an appointed member in the National Religious Council. She was also appointed as a member of the Malaysian Investigating Tribunal Panel, Advocates and Solicitors’Disciplinary Board. As an expert in Family Law, she was appointed by the Minister of Women, Family and Community Development to be a council member of the National Women Advisory Council and also the Technical Committee for the NAM Institute for the Empowerment of Women. In 2010, she was appointed to chair the Panel on Current Issues on Women and Islam, Department of Islamic Development. She is also a member of the board of directors for the Malaysia Islamic Economic Development Foundation (YaPEIM).
Internationally, she is a leading authority on comparative family laws and a well-respected figure amongst the legal fraternity. She was invited to join the Law Association for Asia and the Pacific (LAWASIA) in 2007 and listed in “Who’s Who”database in law and religion by the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ICLARS) based in Milan, Italy. She was appointed as member of the Board of Governors for the Asian Law Institute at the National University of Singapore (NUS) which was formed to facilitate collaboration and encourage excellence in research and teaching in Asian law (2005-2009). As a model of excellence in research, she was awarded twice in 2004 and 2005 by IIUM the Excellent Researcher Award (Faculty Level) and subsequently her team won the Excellent Research Award (Faculty Level) in 2008 for their effort in documenting the development of Family Law and Succession Law in Malaysia for Kluwer Law International, an international publisher based in the Netherlands. She has published twenty books, and more than two hundred articles in areas related to family law, children’s rights, and women’s rights.