Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Utama Arshad Ayub’s involvement in education began in 1965 as the Principal of the MARA College of Business and Professional Studies. In 1967, Maktab MARA was transformed into Institute Technology MARA (ITM) of which Tan Sri Arshad became the First Director, serving with courage and determination from 1965 to 1975. He laid the foundation for Institut Teknologi MARA (now UiTM) and led one of the most successful education initiatives in the country. Apart from that, he has had a distinguished career in the Malaysian Civil Service, serving as Deputy Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (1975 – 1977), Deputy Director General in the Economics Planning Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department (1977 – 1978) and as Secretary General in the Ministry of Primary Industries (1978), Ministry of Agriculture (1979 – 1981) and Ministry of Land and Regional Development (1981 – 1983).
Perdana Leadership Foundation spoke to Tan Sri Arshad recently and gleaned some interesting insights about his life and his approach towards education.