Could you imagine going to university and meeting a student who is a former Malaysian prime minister?

That may be soon true for those who are attending classes at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM).

Malaysia’s PM number nine, Dato' Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob, who is the shortest-serving Prime Minister, and shortest-serving Deputy Prime Minister announced that he was pursuing his PhD via his Facebook page.

“Alhamdulillah, today I received my student card. I am officially a student today. I never expected to be a student in my old age. This is what you call lifelong learning,” he wrote to his 1.7M followers along with a picture of his student card.




His PhD thesis is titled ‘Pembentukan Model Polisi Respons Mendepani Pandemik COVID-19 di Malaysia’, or ‘Shaping the Response Policy Model of Handling the COVID-19 Pandemic in Malaysia’.

As reported by The Star, Ismail presented his thesis proposal during a PhD colloquium session organised by Universiti Utara Malaysia on 14 February.

During the session, he said that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had acknowledged Malaysia as a nation that excelled in the fight against the disease.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ismail was the senior minister responsible for the security cluster.

He was directly involved in planning and implementing measures to curb the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, a task that intensified when he became prime minister in August 2021.

He added that he hoped that the world would see how Malaysia battled COVID-19, as it was a new experience for every nation, and there was no existing model to use.

He was born in Pahang and was the son of a rubber tapper. In his youth, Ismail studied law at Universiti Malaya before becoming a lawyer in 1985.

Two years later, he entered the world of politics.

Image credit: facebook.com/ismailsabri60