Does Zahidi really hold an MBA? Questions abound over deputy minister’s academic credentials from unknown US varsity
Like several of his Barisan Nasional (BN) political colleagues, Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin is now the latest to come under the spotlight, over a purportedly dubious academic qualification.
(MMO) – While the dust has yet to settle after his recent remarks to the Senate last week — that Sabahan student Veveonah Mosibin was “just a YouTuber wanting to make a name for herself” and had faked sitting for an online university examination atop a tree in Pitas, Sabah in June — Zahidi now faces renewed social media scrutiny over his own academic competence.
Details about his academic qualifications were published by national news agency, Bernama, in a report stating that Zahidi holds a diploma in public administration from Mara Technological Institute (now Universiti Institut Teknologi Mara, UiTM) and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from a lesser-known US-based university, Global University, USA, purportedly based in Northern California.
The report from March this year, after Zahidi was made deputy minister, caught the attention of social media users recently, following intense backlash over his comments on Veveonah, which even led Senator Alan Ling Sie Kiong to call on the Dewan Negara to act against Zahidi, for misleading the upper house of Parliament.
Malay Mail carried out some checks to verify the existence of the university mentioned in the Bernama report, and found that Global University is an institution rooted in Christian theological fields of study, which offers certificates in pastoral counselling, ministerial studies and ministerial studies with leadership honours.
The university, based on the contents of its website, also does not offer any MBA programmes, except those linked to Christianity studies, such as Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry.
