Three candidates for Higher Education DG post

The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: Three candidates have been identified as a possible replacement for the post of Higher Education Department director-general.

One of them is a public university vice-chancellor, said sources.

The term of the present director-general Prof Datuk Dr Hassan Said ends Wednesday.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said a new director-general would be named soon.

"Once it is finalised, we will announce the name of the candidate who will take over," he told reporters Tuesday after witnessing the signing of a memorandum of understanding to set up a Chair of Malay Studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in the Republic of Korea.

Prof Hassan had served both the Education and Higher Education Ministries for the past 10 years.

On another matter, Mohamed Khaled said the ministry has not received any application to set up the Space Science University of Malaysia.

"I only read about it in the newspaper," he said when commenting on a Bernama report that a company and its overseas partner plan to set up the university at a cost of RM6.1bil in Kota Tinggi.

It was reported that Next Systems Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Noor Faizal Abdul Samad said the university would be equipped with space science laboratories of modern and international standard and recruit renowned experts.