Kuala Lumpur, 12 Dec 2015 – INCEIF Deputy President Academic Prof Datuk Syed Othman Alhabshi was a recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from UNITAR International University at the university’s third convocation ceremony today. The Doctor in Education degree was awarded to Datuk Syed Othman in recognition of his “meritorious contributions on transformational leadership in education.”

UNITAR is a private university based in Selangor with 10 regional centres throughout the country with a combined student population of more than 9,000 pursuing 60 academic programmes.

Since 1969, Datuk Syed Othman has served in various academic capacities in four public universities in the country which are Universiti Malaya, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, International Islamic University Malaysia and Universiti Utara Malaysia. In 1997, he served as the founding president and chief executive officer of Universiti Tun Abdul Razak until March 2005. He joined INCEIF as Professor of Islamic Economics & Econometrics and Head of Takaful Faculty in March 2007.

He was a member of Etiqa Takaful Berhad board (1995-2013); Maybank Islamic Berhad board (2006-2014); and Asia Unit Trust board (1994-2012), among others. He is currently a board member of Prima Prai Sdn Bhd; Epen Bina Sdn Bhd; Universiti Teknikal MARA Sdn Bhd and Institut Kefahaman Islam Malaysia (IKIM). He is a member of Dubai Centre for Islamic Banking & Finance Advisory Board, Malaysian Insurance Professional Standards Council and IFSB Working Group – Guiding Principles for Retakaful Undertakings. He sits on Shariah Advisory Committee for Labuan Reinsurance (L) Ltd; Amanah Mutual Berhad, Singapore Unit Trusts Ltd and Prudential BSN Takaful Bhd. He has written and published numerous articles and various topics related to Islam, economics, banking and takaful.