KUALA LUMPUR: Professor 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 administer IIUM towards excellence and place the university as a global centre for reference in Islamic knowledge.”
Prior to his new appointment, Dzulkifli was Islamic Science University Malaysia (USIM) board of governance chairman.
Earlier, 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 APEX (Accelerated Programme for Excellence) status in 2008.
Dzulkifli has received Honorary Doctorates of Science from various universities globally for his contributions to the field of education. Among them are University of Portmouth (2008), University of Nottingham (2013), Mykolas Romeris University in Lithuania (2013).
Last year, he received 2017 Gilbert Medal from the 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 New Straits Times from 1995 till 2016.