PUTRAJAYA 1 April – The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak today launched the National Council of Professors , bringing together the expertise of 1426 professors from all the public institutions of higher learning in the country.
The role of the Council is to help the government by contributing input to various fields, in particular, to strengthen the foundations for formulating national policies and to ensure the success of the New Economic Model.
“I hope that the National Council of Professors will act as a platform to create a group of educators (‘Murabbi’), in the context of a modern university that is ever-growing and becoming more challenging,” he said during the launching ceremony at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC).
‘Murabbi’ is an Arabic term that refers to a class of educators who not only teach a particular field of knowledge, but who also shape and mould the personality, attitudes and behavious of his students.
At the launching, the Prime Minister presented the instruments of appointment to the three highest ranking officials as well as the Heads of the respective clusters in the National Council of Professors.
The list of leaders and heads of the respective clusters in the National Council of Professors are as follows:
Chairman: Prof. Emeritus Datuk Zakri Abdul Hamid (USM)
Deputy Chairman: Prof. Datuk Dr. Shamsul Amri Baharuddin (UKM)
Secretary: Prof. Dr. Raduan Che Rose (UPM)
Head of Governance, Law and Public Administration Cluster: Prof. Dr. Nik Ahmad Kamal Nik Mahmood (UIAM)
Head of Health and Medicine Cluster: Prof. Dato’ Dr. Mohd Amin Jalaluddin (UM)
Head of Education and Human Capital Development Cluster: Prof. Dr. Zakaria Kasa (UPSI)
Head of Agriculture and Food Safety Cluster: Prof. Dr. Ghizan Saleh (UPM)
Head of Industry and Innovation Cluster: Prof. Dr. Mohamad Kamal Harun (UiTM)
Head of Politics, Security and International Affairs Cluster: Prof Dr. Mohamed Mustafa Ishak (UUM)
Head of Science and Mathematics Cluster: Prof. Lim Koon Ong (USM)
Head of Natural Resources and Environment Cluster: Prof. Datuk Dr. Ibrahim Komoo (UKM)
Head of Information Technology and Communication Cluster: Prof. Datuk Dr. Halimah Badioze Zaman (UKM)
Head of Technology and Engineering Cluster: Prof. Datuk Dr. Ahmad Darus (UTM)
Head of History, Heritage and Socio-culture Cluster: Prof. Datuk Dr. Zainal Kling (UPSI)
Head of Social Development and Well-Being Cluster: Prof. Datuk Dr. Roziah Omar (UM)
Head of Economy and Finance Cluster: Prof. Datuk Dr. Noor Azlan Mohd. Ghazali (UKM)
Head of Pharmacy and Applied Science Cluster: Prof. Emeritus Dr. V. Navaratnam
The Prime Minister also announced the names of the six Centres that were accorded Higher Education Centres of Excellence (HiCoE) status in recognition of their contributions to the field of academics and research.
The six Centres of Excellence are:
1. Centre for Drug Research (CDR), USM
2. Institute of Bioscience (IBS), UPM
3. Accounting Research Institute, (ARI), UiTM.
4. Centre of Research Power Electronics, Drives, Automation & Control,
(UMPEDAC), UM
5. Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine, (INFORMM), USM
6. Medical Molecular Biology Institute, (UMBI), UKM.
(Source : Utusan, 2 April 2010, pg 2, Dalam Negeri)
