THE QUEST FOR EXCELLENCE, ASMA ISMAIL

Ahmad Zaidi Sulaiman1, Jauriyah Shamsuddin2, Norzairah Ayob3,

Muhamad Azani Yahya4, Noor Syahidah Sabran5

Professor Datuk Dr Asma Ismail, The Person

With an angelic facade, charming persona and intellectual prowess Datuk Dr. Asma Ismail makes her
presence felt in any congregation. As a good communicator, audience of varying level would find her
very persuasive, approachable, and agreeable. She is very competitive and would always strive for
the best in every endeavor. These are fine qualities of a leader powerhouse.

Datuk Dr. Asma Ismail’s learning curve in leadership starts with her being appointed as the Deputy
Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation) at University of Science (USM), Malaysia, where she was
entrusted to drive the innovation effort toward the peak as an APEX institution. Her research impact
includes attaining 16 patents and commercialized worldwide, the rapid diagnostic test for typhoid
called TYPHIDOT which was advocated by WHO. She had won numerous awards and recognitions for
her achievements at National and International levels and to date has shared her knowledge via more
than 400 invited talks and more than 50 keynotes at national and global levels.

She was elected to the Academy of Sciences Malaysia in 2003, The Academy of Sciences for the
Developing World (TWAS) in 2010 and The Islamic World Academy of Sciences in 2016 and was elected
as Honorary Member of the Iranian Academy of Medical Sciences in 2017.

Her passion for higher education and science development ecosystem gained international
recognition and was elected to be a member of several international boards including the Board of
Governors for Commonwealth of Learning (COL) based in Vancouver, Canada, member of the
Directing Board and Executive Committee for Islamic Citation Center based in Shiraz, Iran for the OIC,
Member of the College of Fellows, Keele University and as a Governing Advisory Board Member for
Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan.

1
Pengarah Kanan, Jabatan Hal Ehwal Pelajar dan Alumni, Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia,
zaidi@upnm.edu.my
2
Pengarah, Co-operative & Entrepreneurship Development Institute, Universiti Utara Malaysia,
jauriyah@uum.edu.my
3
Pensyarah Kanan, Pusat Pembangunan Usahawan, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, anorazirah@unimas.my
4
Pengarah, Pusat Pemindahan Teknologi & Pegkomersialan, Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia,
azani@upnm.edu.my
5
Eksekutif Kanan, Pusat Keusahawanan, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, nsyahidah@ump.edu.my
The time away from USM provides Datuk Dr Asma Ismail with valuable lesson and experience in terms
of values she upholds and leadership style she adopts. A stint as the Vice Chancellor of Universiti Sains
Islam Malaysia (USIM) taught and enhanced her appreciation towards the needs for balance between
success in the world and the hereafter. She left an indelible mark, a legacy, the USIM citizen can be
proud of for years to come. As the Director General of Education, Datuk Dr Asma Ismail managed to
amass and tap the experiences of the Vice Chancellors of all the public universities along with the
networking that comes with the job.

At the dawn of a new leadership era

Halfway through the second decade in the new millennium, a noble objective in Sustainable
Development Goals issues had somehow led to less emphasis on the need to be competitive nationally
and internationally. In the same period, the nation’s economic condition was harsh towards the public
universities where certain austerity measures had led to the reduction of annual operating budget
apportioned them. This proves a challenge to the University’s administrator to juggle between the
need for development, successful operation, and the quest for excellence.

Known that being the first woman in higher position is something spectacular to be seen. This is due
to the transformation of employment structure in Malaysia, especially to meet the demand for skilled
and knowledgeable workers (Lim, 2018). Moreover, the rising female educational attainment has
increased since post-independence era (Lim, 2019). Even at working place, there is a common thing
to see woman hold a title or status of being a leader rather than man. Beside Datuk Dr. Asma Ismail’s
capability and experiences, her entrepreneurial mindset certainly helps her to adapt to a certain
condition effectively and indirectly open her pathways to career success.

Her most outstanding contributions to Malaysia’s higher education system could be seen from the
establishment of the prestigious National Academic Award, the establishment of Research Universities
in Malaysia and also in co-steered the Malaysian Education Blueprint (Higher Education) in 2013 till
2025 (Sunway University, 2021). Hence, the gender gap could not be seen as a barrier for someone to
achieve the high-level position. It is all about her passion, able to set a clear goal, having a creative
mindset, brave to face the fear and ability to lead the direction for the sake of the better nation
(Soltanifar & Smailhodžić, 2021; Lindh, 2017).

Subsequently, as she being an exemplary figure in the field of higher education, research, innovation
and policy on Science and Technology locally and abroad, she has giving an advice that the first things
she did was developing her specialize and be excel expertise in a specific area, secondly, she was
looking for transformative leaders who are generous in sharing their knowledge and willing to nurture
the next generation of leaders (Leng, 2019). These two factors has helped her to climb up to the
position where she is now.

In today’s world, it seen a dramatically accelerating pace in the development and adoption of new
technologies. This rapid technological change is affecting almost every area especially education,
business and sciences sector (Wilburn & Wilburn, 2018; Gopalan, 2016) According to the interview
conducted by Prestige Women Magazine (2019), Datuk Dr. Asma Ismail has contended that there are
three components that drive the economy and the future of the country which are science, technology
and innovation. In addition, the combination of the arts and social science are actually give science
the face of humanity. Due to this changes, she has led the education sector by implementing
experiential learning among USM’s student (Malaysia Higher Education Report, 2019).
She argued that university education nowadays should base on learning experience where the
students learn to be critical thinking and inter-cultural competency. Beside that she has come out the
idea in creating the Job Opportunities Recruitment Networking (JORAN) which intention to help the
students earn money and at the same time they learn to manage the business survival. As a result, the
students have good enough of training to be lifelong learners, so that they remain relevant to
development in the industry. This is one of her strategies plans to inculcate entrepreneurial mindset
among their students as well as their lecturers and staffs who are getting involve together in this
programme. Subsequently, her research specialize in the scientific discovery of biomarkers and
development of rapid diagnostics of infectious disease for low resource setting has successfully
commercialized the technology round the world due to its accessibility and affordability for the low-
income groups (ASEAN Business Leaders, 2019). Therefore, the ability to adapt the changes situation
is a must to have in leader to improve the better institution or sector.

No Time to Lose

Not one to idle, Datuk Asma Ismail knows full well that time is not on her side. She immediately gets
the whole University working towards meeting the objective of to be better than the “Urban
University”. Meetings were held every week to make sure every aspect of is progressing, the key
performance indicators are met. Meetings were not limited to the top management only, she made
sure the faculty members know what she wants and heard their grievances and see to it that the
problems are addressed. Her mantra was “communicate, communicate, communicate” neither to
compromising the excuse nor reason.

It was like a “gotong-royong” where all the department heads would participate in the decision-
making process to chart the course for the University. She would gladly open her doors and listen to
the non-believers and somehow manage to persuade them to agree with her. Initially there were
resistance where some of the younger faculty members would not subscribe to her idea on the
importance of meeting the requirements needed to improve the University’s ranking. Being a prolific
researcher herself, she shared her experiences and provide guidance and motivation to lay a strong
foundation among the faculty members on research and publication that to this day, the effect of
which reverberates still as evidenced by the current standing of USM in World University Ranking.

The Icing on the Entrepreneurial University Cake

The year of 2018 saw Universiti Science of Malaysia (USM) won the coveted Ministry of Higher
Education (MOHE) Entrepreneurial Award (MEA) and all the efforts she put in paid off. Datuk Asma
Ismail would walk the ground, meet the staff, and see for herself the facilities and infrastructures the
university has. All these became very useful in her endeavour to inculcate university wide
entrepreneurship mind-set.

Datuk Dr Asma Ismail has a keen eye for entrepreneurial opportunity. She converted the unused
spaces at Hospital USM, Kubang Kerian into executive wards where now it is generating substantial
income to the University.

One way to boost University income is by increasing student intake. More students would translate
into more capital inflow for the University. To do that she introduced USM +1 program where it
provides an alternative channel for students wanting to enrol at USM but not selected by the UPU
system. Unlike students selected under the UPU system, who pays subsidized fees, these students
would have to pay full fees. Enlisting the services of agents brought in many international students
which means more money flowing into the University.

The world has changed profoundly in the last few years due to the pandemic outbreaks. It is the
emergence of fear and anxiety not only due to the disease itself but also to the disruption of daily
activities, social isolation caused by the restricted movement order and financial burdens (Morgan &
Trinh, 2021; Abdullah, 2020; Banerjee & Rai, 2020, Coelho et al., 2020). Thus, a leader should develop
the critical thinking skills, boost the ability problem solving and make the right decision (Kerns, 2016;
Selart, 2010). Therefore, the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) have started releasing statement
and guidelines to assist the communities or societies. The efforts has made by ASM was established a
Special Interest Group (SIG) on COVID-19 comprising Fellows of the Academy, Young Scientists
Network (YSN-ASM) and Top Research Scientists Malaysia (TRSM) who are the expert network of ASM
to review key research findings around the world and issue fact sheets to help the public understand
the implications (and limitations) of the research studies (Academy of Sciences Malaysia, 2020). Even
Malaysian education system also facing the hurdles regarding virtual education from home, the
utilization of technological equipment, group-based projects, internet capacity and assessment
methods (Arumugam, 2021; Sufian, 2020). Hence, a great leaders will guide employees or people
through this pandemic challenges and are always on the lookout for a solution.

She also made sure that for every MoU signed, it must bring in money into the University. By reviewing
the percentage of profit shared under an offshore program, International Medical Programme USM-
KLE, she made sure that USM earns more than it used to be. She realized the potential of certain
laboratory equipment that lay idle at certain times of the week which can be used by the industry.
She made sure that this equipment is rented out. By allowing commercial enterprises to set up
laboratories with their names on the building, she managed to provide the much-needed equipment
for student use in teaching and learning.

The Regrets

The term of her appointment as the Vice Chancellor of University Science of Malaysia (USM) is indeed
a very short time for her to elevate USM to a higher level of excellence. Although she managed to
bring USM moved its ranking positively, she was still not satisfied because the 3-year term was a phase
of reorganizing and putting USM back on track. There are many things need to be done for USM as
feeling of “sirih pulang ke gagang”.

If there is still an opportunity to continue serving USM, she intended to further strengthening USM's
internationalization agenda by seeing more international students pursue their studies at the Pearl of
Island. She understood USM had the strength as the diversified garden of knowledge as its APEX
(Accelerated Programme for Excellence) agenda among others is to propel the university to be one of
the best institutions of higher learning in the world.
Besides, she also wants to see USM research and innovation activities boost higher in the country and
become the top in the ranking. She knows all the strength that USM has and also weaknesses that can
be eliminated since she was the Director General of Higher Education.

At her farewell ceremony, she expressed her love for USM and asked to pray for her health to continue
contributing to the country. As she addressed at the first time came to USM was to bring back USM
flying higher and higher with the 3-years trust that has given to her. Her final message to USM
residents – “It is not a goodbye. I am still here and not going anywhere. My heart is still you”.

Indeed, Prof. Datuk Dr Asma Ismail is an inspiring woman leader. Her examples and ways of leadership
demonstrate the quality of entrepreneurial leader should have”. If your actions inspire others to
dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader”.
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Figure 1: Interview session with Professor Datuk Dr. Asma Ismail on 6th September 2021 titled
The Quest of Excellence