Husaini Omar

In this Malay name, there is no surname or family name. The name Omar is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by their given name, Husaini.

Husaini bin Omar (born 10 March 1963) is a Malaysian academic, geologist, researcher, engineer and former Director-General of Higher Education from 1 February 2021 until 9 March 2023.

Yang Berbahagia Professor Dato' Dr. Husaini Omar DPMK DPMS PSK
8th Director-General of Higher Education
In office 1 February 2021 – 9 March 2023
Monarch	Abdullah
Prime Minister	Muhyiddin Yassin (2021) Ismail Sabri Yaakob (2021-2022) Anwar Ibrahim (2022-2023)
Minister	Noraini Ahmad (2021-2022) Mohamed Khaled Nordin (2022-2023)
Preceded by	Mohamed Mustafa Ishak
Succeeded by	Azlinda Azman
4th Vice-Chancellor of the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan
In office 1 January 2018 – 6 January 2019
Chancellor	Tengku Muhammad Fa-iz Petra
Preceded by	Mortaza Mohamed
Succeeded by	Noor Azizi Ismail
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) of Universiti Putra Malaysia
In office 15 February 2017 – 1 January 2018
Chancellor	Sharafuddin
Preceded by	Mohd. Azmi Mohd Lila
Succeeded by	Zulkifli Idrus
Personal details
Born	(1963-03-10) 10 March 1963 (age 62) Kelantan, Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia)
Citizenship	Malaysian
Spouse	Norwati Mustapha
Alma mater	University of Malaya (BSc) University of Leeds (MEng) Universiti Putra Malaysia (PhD)

Education

Husaini holds a Bachelor of Science with Honors (Geology) from the University of Malaya in 1988 and a Master of Geological Engineering from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom in 1994. He subsequently obtained a Doctor of Engineering (System Engineering) from Universiti Putra Malaysia in 2002.^[1][2]

Career

Husaini has eight years of industry experience as a geological engineer before starting his career as a lecturer at the Faculty of Engineering Universiti Putra Malaysia in 1996. He enjoyed academic and administrative success until he was appointed Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation) of UPM on 15 February 2017 before assuming the position of Vice Chancellor of Universiti Malaysia Kelantan on 1 January 2018 until 6 January 2019. He subsequently assumed the duties of chief executive officer of the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) from 1 June 2020 until 31 January 2021.^[3][4]

Honours

•  Kelantan :
  • Commander of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Kelantan (PSK) (2012)^[5]
  • Knight Commander of the Order of the Crown of Kelantan (DPMK) – Dato' (2018)^[6]
•  Selangor :
  • Knight Commander of the Order of the Crown of Selangor (DPMS) – Dato' (2016)^[7]