Biography
Professor Sahol Hamid Bin Abu Bakar is a distinguished academician and administrator with over four decades of experience in teaching, research, engineering consultancy, leadership, and governance. He holds a B.Eng. (Hons) in Civil Engineering from UiTM, Malaysia, and dual Master’s Degrees in Civil Engineering and Economics from Colorado State University, USA. In 1992, he obtained his D.Phil. in Civil Engineering from the University of Sussex, UK. He has been honored with two honorary doctorates from the University of Sussex, UK, and the University of Stuttgart, Germany, being the first Asian to receive the Honorary Doctorate Dr.-Ing from the University of Stuttgart. Prof. Sahol Hamid Bin Abu Bakar commenced his career as a lecturer in 1976 and subsequently ascended the administrative hierarchy to assume the role of Vice Chancellor of Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia in 2010. Following his tenure at UiTM, he became the Vice Chancellor of B. S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India, thereby becoming the first foreign Vice Chancellor of an Indian University. He also served as a consultant to two universities in Ankara, Turkey. His expertise encompasses Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Organizational Intelligence, and Blue Ocean Strategy, which he has successfully implemented in the universities he has led. Prof. Sahol has also provided training to numerous potential Vice Chancellors in India and has extended his knowledge in management and administrative acumen to train other Vice Chancellors and senior administrators of various higher educational institutions in leadership skills worldwide. He has been a frequent invitee to Oxford, UK, to train potential VCs and VCs from various countries globally. His notable expertise includes transforming universities into entrepreneurial entities. Subsequent to his term in India, Prof. Sahol returned to Malaysia in October 2019 and currently holds the position of Vice Chancellor at Unitar International University in Malaysia. He continues to contribute to both private and public universities. Prof. Sahol is a recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the highly esteemed titles of Tan’ Sri and Dato’ Sri in Malaysia. He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences, Malaysia, and the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia. He is also a registered Professional Engineer.