New Director of Administration at Monash University Malaysia

Dr Matthew Sukumaran.

Monash University Malaysia has appointed Dr Matthew Sukumaran as its Director of Administration beginning January 1.

He takes over from Dr Cheong Siew Yoong, who had been Director of Administration since the university’s inception in 1997 and retires from the position after serving the education sector for more than 45 years.

Dr Matthew joined Monash University Malaysia as the Senior Executive Assistant to the Pro Vice-Chancellor in August 2005.

Prior to joining Monash Malaysia, Dr Matthew was the Deputy Director of the Australian Government’s Australian Education International office at the Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur.

There, his role included provision of education and training advice to the Counsellor, monitoring trends and developments in the education industry, implementing initiatives to support Malaysia-Australia education ties, business planning and forging collaborative ventures between Australian institutions and local industry.

During his employment with the AEI, Dr Matthew authored a key publication for the Australian Government titled “Offshore Accreditation of Courses in Malaysia”, which continues to serve as a useful guide for Australian universities having or intending to establish an education presence in Malaysia.

Prior to joining AEI, Dr Matthew held senior positions at several Malaysian educational institutions.

These include as Head of the Stamford Law School, Assistant Director with the Senior Management of the Stamford Group, Academic Director and Registrar of Institute Putra and Chief Operating Officer of Cybernetics College of Technology.

He was also the Visiting Fellow of Southern Cross University (SCU), NSW, and was an external examiner for its graduate school of management for doctoral candidates.

He has also held the position of unit leader for Business Law on the SCU executive MBA programme and in the final year of the University of London undergraduate law program (external) in Conflict of Laws.

Dr Matthew holds a Bachelor’s degree in law and a Masters degree in corporate and commercial law from King’s College, University of London.

The area of research in his professional doctoral degree focused on strategic management of private higher educational institutions and global competitive advantage for Malaysian Private Higher Education Institutions.

He has completed his professional Bar examinations in Gray’s Inn, London and has been called to the High Court of England and Wales and the High Court of Malaya.