Wednesday May 8, 2013

Age no barrier for Hashim

Hashim, his wife Noorsiah Sihes (second from right) and other family members looking at Hashim’s certificate after the convocation ceremony at UTM, Johor Baru.

JOHOR BARU: After nine long years of studying and doing research, Hashim Yusoff was finally awarded a Doctorate in Computer Science from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) here.

The 57-year-old, who is also the chief deputy director (management) of the Johor Public Works Department, said his yearning to learn was what pushed him to persevere for nine years.

“Age is never a factor for me as I believe that it is never too late to excel in life even in terms of education,” he said at UTM’s 50th convocation ceremony yesterday.

He added that juggling work and study was a bit of a struggle but with the support and motivation of his family, he persevered.

“It was even harder during examination period, especially during my final viva examination,” he said, adding that he was deprived of sleep for two weeks.

Hashim added that he was relieved that he finally managed to get his doctorate and planned to retire early after working with the Government for the past 37 years.

“I started off my career as a teacher in a government school and have decided to return to teaching and lecture at UTM,” he said.

Hashim also said during his years doing research at the university, he invented a multi-lingual polygraph (lie-detector) which he hopes to commercialise.

While pursuing his doctorate, Hashim also received the Best Paper Award in 2007 for his presentation in Indonesia.

Hashim was among the 2,709 UTM graduates who received their diploma, degree, masters and doctorate. Johor Sultan’s consort Raja Zarith Sofia Sultan Idris Shah, who is also a chancellor of UTM, presented the certificates.

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