University of Nottingham in Malaysia Provost & CEO Professor Graham Kendall has today announced that he will be retiring with effect from 31 January 2021, following a successful academic career of more than 20 years at the University.

Professor Kendall has secured many achievements for our Malaysia campus and will be missed by his friends and colleagues at the University in the UK, China and of course Malaysia.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Shearer West paid tribute to Professor Kendall, saying:

“As Provost & CEO of UNM, Graham has led a series of transformational projects which have delivered success for the Malaysia campus. Under his leadership, UNM has been delivering a World Bank project to transform the delivery of education in Bangladesh, by upskilling more than 10,000 university and college lecturers. He has also laid the foundation for “ASEAN and Beyond,” which looks to reach beyond Malaysia to deliver our programmes in countries such as Singapore, India and Sri Lanka.

“The University’s commitment to UNM and our presence in Malaysia remains as strong as ever and we are developing new strategies to chart our next 20 years in Malaysia with the same passion for education in the country as we have since the start of the century.”

Professor Kendall said:

“After completing my PhD at the University of Nottingham, I went on to work there. The past 21 years have passed in a flash but has been a fantastic experience with some lows but many more highs. I have been particularly pleased to serve as CEO/Provost and Pro-Vice Chancellor for the past four and a half years.

“When I reflect on my time in Malaysia, the highlight I keep coming back to is the collegiality, support and friendship I have experienced. Of course, we have experienced challenges but I have always known that when we have our backs against the wall, colleagues at the University of Nottingham Malaysia would step up and do whatever it takes to resolve the current issue. That has been something I have very much valued.

“Nothing we have achieved would have been possible without the support of my colleagues and our students. I would like to express my deep gratitude to every one of them. UNM is where it is today due to their hard work, the teamwork they have exhibited and their commitment to getting things done. I see these traits on a daily basis.

“I wish the University of Nottingham, in particular, the University of Nottingham Malaysia, every success in the future. It has been a pleasure to serve.”

The University will now instigate an internal recruitment competition to secure the next Provost & CEO for the University of Nottingham in Malaysia to continue to manage the current phase of the coronavirus pandemic and local restrictions as well as continue the development of our strategies for the campus.

In the meantime, the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Engineering, Professor Sam Kingman, will oversee campus operations as interim Provost and Chief Executive Officer and provide University Executive Board support for UNM. He will continue in his role as Pro Vice-Chancellor for Engineering and be supported by his APVCs and senior team in leading the Faculty during this time.

Professor Kendall’s academic career with the University of Nottingham began in 1999 and spans more than 20 years. Prior to taking up his role at Nottingham, he had started his career in 1977 as a computer operator and, in an IT career which spanned 17 years, he rose to senior management roles.

In 2007 he was made a full Professor and moved to Malaysia in 2011 to take up the role of Vice-Provost (Research & Knowledge Exchange) before taking up role as Provost & CEO in 2016, also becoming Pro-Vice Chancellor and serving on the University’s Executive Board as part of that role.

Graham is a Fellow of the British Computer Society (FBCS) and the Operational Research Society (FORS). He has been an Associate Editor of 10 journals and a former Editor-in-chief of the “IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence and AI in Games.” He has published more than 250 peer reviewed scientific papers, with more than 100 of those in ISI ranked journals.