FRIDAY, 30 MARCH 2012 00:00

By Nastura Nasir
Pix Ikhwan Hashim, Penerbit UKM

PUTRAJAYA, 30 Mac. 2012 – The government’s aspiration to setup a Women Leadership Chair bore fruit today with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development and the National University of Malaysia (UKM) here today.

The Chair is to raise the intellectual development of women and their potential to be leaders of society into the future.

The Ministry has allocated RM4 millon to be disbursed at RM500,000 a year for the next eight years to the Chair which will be sited at the Centre for Women’s Leadership UKM.

The MoU was signed by the Secretary General of the Ministry, Dato’ Dr Noorul Ainur Mohd Nur and UKM Vice Chancellor, Prof Tan Sri Dato’ Wira Dr Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin.

The Ministry will collaborate with UKM to further enhance women’s intellectual capacity while nurturing their leadership potential to be savvy and strategic visionaries.

Minister of Women, Family and Community Development, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil who witnessed the signing said the Chair will provide the motivation and direction to women in the country who have the potential to be leaders to move up the leadership scale for higher achievements.

“The setting up of the chair is a good investment which dovetails with the government’s aspirations to increase the number of women who have the potential, intellect and leadership capabilities to be leaders. This is in line with the government’s agenda to further develop the nation’s human capital capacity”, she said.

Prof Sharifah Hapsah said UKM as a research university will use the fund allocated to ensure the person appointed to the Chair will be one who has the intellect and leadership quality able to further enhance the women’s leadership capacity in the country.

The university will discuss with the holder of the Chair to develop a set of comprehensive academic activities, research, publications and the sharing of knowledge in women leadership.

We are confident that the chair will be able to develop women leaders for the masses to transform their leadership capabilities at the individual, family, society and organizations levels. It will also be the reference centre for knowledge and experiences of women leadership through planned research, advocacy and training, she said.