Each year the world-class University of Nottingham, ranked in the top 1 per cent of all universities worldwide bestows honorary degrees to a small select number of individuals who have achieved outstanding success and distinction in their chosen fields. Dr Elizabeth Lee joins the creator of ibuprofen, the late Professor Steward Adams, OBE; British High Commissioner to Malaysia, H.E. Simon Featherstone, CMG; Olympic Gold Medalist, Dr Tim Brabants, MBE; and current governor of Bank Negara Malaysia, Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz; to be amongst the choice luminaries who have received the honour.
“We have worked closely with her since the early 1990s. Elizabeth has made an outstanding contribution to the development and internationalisation of private higher education in Malaysia”, said Professor Christine Ennew.
A prominent member of Malaysia’s education industry, Elizabeth serves on various significant committees which are tasked by the Malaysian Government to chart the direction, strategies, and policies for higher education. Her sterling appointments include the Ministry of Education’s International Promotion Council.
She serves on the Board of Advisors of the Institut Penyelidikan Pendidikan Tinggi Negara (IPPTN) or National Higher Education Research Institute and is a founding member of the Academic Advisory Committee of Monash University Malaysia. On the corporate front, she is a member on the Board of Management of the Master Builders Association of Malaysia Education Fund and also the Board of Trustees of MERCY Malaysia. In March 2014, she was appointed as a member of the International Academic Advisory Council (IAAC) of Jeffrey Cheah Institute on Southeast Asia.
Prior to the conferment, Elizabeth Lee received the Outstanding Asian Women Community Contribution Award from Malaysia Women’s Career Building Association which was presented by the First Lady of Malaysia, Y A Bhg Datin Paduka Seri Rosmah Mansor recognising her contributions.
In her acceptance speech, Elizabeth said “My foray into the education industry was deliberate. I love to teach and to learn. I love knowledge. I believed then and now even more so, in the influence and power of education, to make a real and positive difference in the lives of the people, the community and to our nations.”
“I realised that one does not have to be a world leader to change the world, rather one can be the force to shape leaders of tomorrow from the very classrooms which are intended to nurture such leaders. For what we teach our youth today will be the legacy they take with them to the future”, added Elizabeth.
Having helmed the education division of the Sunway Group since 1992, Elizabeth has been instrumental to the development of the Sunway Education Group, growing the Group’s one institution, namely Sunway College then, to the dynamic group of thirteen institutions, including the Sunway University, Monash University Malaysia, Sunway College Kuala Lumpur, Sunway College Johor Bahru, Sunway International School and the Sunway-Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts. These institutions are owned and governed by the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation, a unique and first-of-its kind structure in Malaysia in the field of private higher education, modelled along the lines of Harvard University in the US.
In tandem with the Sunway Education Group’s Founder and Chairman, Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah, AO, and striving towards his vision together, the student numbers soon grew from around 1,000 then to more than 20,000 to-date. Elizabeth currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Sunway Education Group and most of the institutions’ boards within the Group.
As an industry thought leader, her most recent invitations were to speak at the Asia Business Conference at Harvard Business School, University of Oxford and the University of Edinburgh. In fact, Elizabeth has just returned from Jogjakarta with the Malaysian team for the Malaysia-Indonesia Dialogue on International Higher Education 2014 prior to receiving her honorary doctorate degree.
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