Universiti Putra Vice Chancellor Selected

In an update to yesterday's post on the Universiti Putra Malaysia shortlist, the New Straits Times have today confirmed the selection of the vacant vice-chancellor's post as Prof Dr Nik Mustapha Raja Abdullah who is currently the Universiti Putra Malaysia deputy vice-chancellor (Research and Innovation).

Before being promoted to deputy vice-chancellor, he was dean of the university’s Economy and Management Faculty.

Taking over Nik Mustapha’s post is Prof Dr Abu Bakar Salleh, the Biotechnology and Science Bio-molecules Faculty head.

A quick check on the UPM website for information on the new vice-chancellor reveals the following:

Nik Mustapha Raja Abdullah is a Professor in the Department of Natural Resource Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia. He joined UPM in 1981 as a lecturer and in 1993, he was promoted to the rank of an Associate Professor in the same department. In 1997, he was again promoted to a Professor in the faculty. After serving as Head of Department, Department of Natural Resource Economics from 1989-1997, he was appointed to his current position as the Deputy Dean in charge of research and graduate studies in August 1997.

Currently he is teaching microeconomics and managerial economics courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has been very active in research and consultancy activities especially in the area of fisheries economics. He has published articles on fisheries related issues in journals such as Marine Policy, Marine Resource Economics, International Journal of Food Marketing and Agribusiness, Asian Fisheries Sciences, Malaysian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Malaysian Journal of Economic Studies, Malaysian Economics Journal and Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities.

He also writes popular articles some of which appeared in the ICLARM Newsletter, INFOFISH Marketing Digest for international audience and also in local newspapers. He also sits on the editorial board of Marine Resource Economics Journal, a council member of the Agricultural Economics Society of Southeast Asia (AESSEA), vice-president of the Malaysian Agricultural Economics Association and a former team leader of the Asian Fisheries Social Sciences Research Network (AFSSRN). He was also a board member of the Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of the Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP) of the United Nations, during 1995-1997. To date he has supervised 7 Ph.D, 9 M.S. and more than 80 undergraduate students in thesis and project papers.

Well, we'll see if this "search committee" cited by the Minister of Higher Education will surface from behind the scenes to elaborate on the appointment as discussed in my earlier post. As far as I can see, there wasn't much extensive searching conducted, which was disappointing.