By Nurul Haziqah Abdul Halim
Pix By Izwan Azman

BANGI, 22 January 2014 – Former Vice Chancellor Prof Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Dr Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin who had served the university for seven years said she will always find time for UKM.

Speaking at a farewell party for her at the Puri Pujangga Hotel here today she said she had tried hard to maintain and polish The National University of Malaysia (UKM) to be seen in brighter and positive light while building upon what her predecessors had done.

She hopes her successor, Prof Datuk Dr Noor Azlan Ghazali will continue that endeavour to make UKM a great force in the eyes of the world.

Prof Sharifah Hapsah also hopes that UKM will work towards making its graduates entrepreneurs. They should not just be made employable but they must also be nurtured to be self-employed as jobs are now hard to come by.

She said that she would still like to continue to help UKM in any way possible and that the new Vice Chancellor, Prof Datuk Dr Noor Azlan Ghazali can always count on her if he needs any advice or want to have discussions with her about UKM.

Prof Noor Azlan in his tribute said the whole UKM missed Prof Sharifah Hapsah who had left a great legacy that will be hard to match.

All the four Deputy Vice Chancellors, Prof Dato’ Ir Dr Othman A. Karim (Students and Alumni Affairs); Prof Dr Ir Riza Atiq Abdullah OK Rahmat (Academic and International Affairs); Prof Dr Mazlin Mokhtar (Research and Innovation Affairs) and Prof Dato’ Dr Saran Kaur Gill (Industry and Community Partnerships) attended the function.

Prof Noor Azlan said he found the secret to Prof Sharifah Hapsah’s leadership style in her autobiography part of it using the I.C.T method (inclusiveness, consultative and transparency).

“I find that to be a very good advice for me to manage such a big institution as UKM. What you have left us is a great challenge, which is to continue your work to make UKM a better and greater place for students to come to for higher education, as well as a place that will continue to defend the nation’s dream and integrity, of upholding Bahasa Melayu as a language of tertiary education,” Prof Noor Azlan said.

Prof Sharifah was later presented with a farewell gift from the UKM community which was handed over by Prof Noor Azlan.