By Amirul Hafiz
GOMBAK, 27 February 2015: The International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) has gained a lot of achievement that should be lauded by its community. For that reason, the monthly staff assembly, Al-Liqa Al-Shahri recently conducted praised the ˜fruits that have been harvested.
Al-Liqa Al-Shahri is a gathering where every staff of IIUM family listens to the messages of the leader on the expectations for the months to come. Deputy Rector (Academic and Planning), Prof. Dato’ Dr. Md Tahir Azhar, was the host for this month’s Al-Liqa Al-Shahri.
It started with the announcement on the recognition of IIUM on 17Â December 2014 as the premier International Islamic Research University by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO) under the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC). This is a global recognition of IIUM as a beacon of knowledge, lighting the way for civilisation development, scientific innovation, and knowledge generation.
Another achievement that brought pride to IIUM is the successful development of the Syariah Indeks for Malaysia. This is the first Islamic model developed across the Muslim world and it was spearheaded by IIUM.
On the achievement of student activities, the IIUM Debate Team has been marked the top 10 debate team in the world for its achievement in the open category of World Universities Debating Championship held from 27Â December 2014 until 4Â January 2015. The best speaker for English was awarded to all team members, namely Syed Saddiq, Mubarrat Wassey and Ameera Natasha Moore in the second language category.
Another success story of IIUM debaters was when Syed Saddiq was ranked 16th best speaker of the world and achieved the world record of highest scoring for ESL speaker. And not to forget the IIUM debaters who won the OIC Inter-varsity Debating Championship held from 5Â to 8Â January 2015 at IIUM. Words of congratulations were handed to Nur Ezzah Abdullah who won the best debater in The Students’ Parliament in January 2015.
Applauds went to AIKOL for successfully organising the Harun M. Hashim National Client Consultation Competition 2015 and this team has become the champion and will be representing Malaysia at the Brown Mosten International Client Consultation Competition 2015 in Nebraska, USA.
œI take the opportunity to address some pertinent academic issues as the core function of our Institution that we must be aware of the unprecedented demands and great diversification in higher education. The younger generation needs to be equipped with new skills, knowledge and ideals, said IIUM’s Rector, Prof. Dato Sri Dr. Zaleha Kamaruddin.
She took the opportunity to congratulate Prof. Md Tahir Azhar and his team for developing the e-cure project. This is a very useful innovation which will assist the IIUM academic community by taking care of the technical parts of the documentation process and review system and also have easy access to Senate-endorsed course outline when needed.
Also not forgetting Ahmad El Muhammady who was invited as a panelist in the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism 2015, held in Washington D.C on 17Â to 18Â February 2015. The main purpose of this summit was to develop a comprehensive, multi-stakeholder action agenda against violent extremism and to chart a path for progress that would include a leaders level summit on the margins of the United National General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2015.
Last but not least, was the academic staff award for month of February 2015 given to Prof. Dr. Nuraihan and Sr. Sharifah.
The event ended with an amazing performance “Silent Drill” by IIUM’s Kor Suksis.