The Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer

Prof Dato’ Dr  Wong Tat Meng is a key player in the establishment and development of WOU, and a familiar figure in the local education scene.

He served as Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) since the University’s inception in 2006 until December 2009. He has over 35 years of academic experience, having served in both conventional and open distance learning (ODL) universities in Malaysia and Hong Kong.

His field of expertise lies in curriculum development, quality assurance and change management. He aims to make WOU the preferred institution of higher learning for the country’s working adults and employers.

Academic Background

Prof Wong received his early education (1957-1964) at the Sultan Abdul Hamid College, Alor Star where he obtained his Cambridge Higher School Certificate.

He graduated from the University of Otago, Dunedin in New Zealand with a BSc (First Class Honours) in Zoology (1968) and a PhD in Zoology (1972). He was awarded a Colombo Plan Scholarship (1965-1972) and a New Zealand Postgraduate Scholarship (1969-1972) for his studies there.

Contribution to Malaysia Education and Abroad

Prof Wong returned from his tertiary education abroad to join the then newly-established Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) where he served for the next 21 years till 1993 in various academic and administrative positions including Lecturer, Associate Professor, Chairman of Programmes, Deputy Dean and Dean of the School of Biological Sciences as well as the Founding Director of the university’s Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies.

While at USM, his research interests focused on the environmental physiology of inter-tidal invertebrates, pollution studies, benthic crustaceans and bivalve agriculture. He conducted pioneering studies into the artificial breeding and production of bivalve seeds using hatchery techniques in the early 1980s. His team at the Muka Head station was the first in the country to successfully induce spawned and artificially-reared juveniles of many bivalve species including the blood cockle, mussel, carpet shell clam, razor clam and two species of oysters. They were also the first to document the spawning and larval development process in these species through the use of video recording technology. His research has been disseminated through numerous journal papers and conference presentations both locally and internationally.

Prof Wong contributed actively to local professional and learned societies, having served as President of the USM Academic Staff Association (1975-76), Council member of the Malaysian Scientific Association (1982-84) as well as President of the Malaysian Society of Marine Services (1985-87).

In 1993, Prof Wong joined the Open Learning Institute of Hong Kong (later upgraded to the Open University of Hong Kong) as Dean of its School of Science of Technology. He was promoted to Chair Professor and Dean in 1995 and held the post until 2006 when he was invited back to Penang to join WOU in its infancy.

He took over from founding Vice Chancellor Tan Sri Emeritus Prof Dr Gajaraj Dhanarajan in December 2009.

In recogntion for his enormous contributions to state and country, Prof Wong was conferred the Dato’ Setia Di Raja Kedah (DSDK) award which carries the title ‘Dato” in conjunction with the 84th birthday of the Sultan of Kedah, Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah Sultan Badlishah, on 15 January 2012.

International Recognition

Prof Wong has received a number of fellowship awards including the Commonwealth Fellowship (1979), University of Rhode Island Visiting Scholar (1987) and the IDRC Travelling Fellowship (1987).

He also successfully completed a number of consultancy projects for international agencies such as the International Labour Organisation (Netherlands), International Development Research Centre (Canada) and the Shell Group of Companies, ASEAN Foundation.

He was Advisor to the Secretariat, Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) from 2002 – 2007 and Secretary-General of AAOU from 1999 to 2002.

He was elected as President of AAOU for a three-year term from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2013.

Personal Anecdotes

Prof Wong, 65, is married to Dr Annie Foo Eng Sim and the couple is blessed with three children. He now regularly plays tennis to keep fit.

He was an all-round sportsman and an accomplished badminton exponent in his school days. He represented the Kedah state team in badminton while in lower secondary.

During his varsity days in New Zealand, Prof Wong earned an Otago University Blue for badminton in 1965 and was awarded the New Zealand Combined Universities Blue for badminton over four consecutive years from 1965 to 1968. He won the New Zealand Open Championship in 1965 as part of the Men’s doubles.