SHAHRIN BIN SAHIB was born on 23rd July at Kampung Sepinang, Segamat, Johor. His passion has always been in academia, to be a scholar and an expert in Information and Communication Technology especially in Cyber Security, Networking, Computer Systems and Parallel Processing through working, teaching and undertaking research in those areas.

His illustrious journey in the academic arena started in ITM Shah Alam in 1985 when he was offered a scholarship under the Public Service Department of Malaysia to undergo an intensive English programme for students outbound for American degree programs. Based on his SPM trial results, he was selected among four students from Sekolah Tinggi Segamat, Johor to undergo the programme which comprises of students primarily from boarding and science school. ITM not only equipped him with his fluency in English but also with all preparation required to go to the US in the college rightly then named as College of Preparatory Studies (Kolej Pengajian Persediaan KPP). Due to the economic turmoil in the late 80’s, majority of the students was held back from going to the US and was enrolled into the ITM/MUCIA programme to enable the first two year of the degree programme to be completed in ITM. Despite coming from a regular school, Shahrin was the Student Leader and finished his studies with Distinction. As the best student, he was given the honour to deliver a speech representing the Class of 1987 during the graduation day held at Dewan Sri Budiman ITM Shah Alam.

As a staunch Johorian, Shahrin not only went through the regular primary at Sekolah Datuk Wan Idris and secondary school at Sekolah Tinggi Segamat, but he also underwent and completed the Johor Religious School until the Special Class (Darjah Khas) that provides him the Islamic Foundation which he strongly clutches on to.

With the strong foundation and the preparatory studies completed at ITM, he later obtained his bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Purdue University, Indiana, United States in the area of Computer Systems Engineering and Electrical Engineering in 1989 and 1991 respectively, followed by a PhD in the area of Parallel Processing from the University of Sheffield United Kingdom in 1995.

His contribution in academia began in 1990 by becoming a fellow to Universiti Sains Malaysia which financed his Master’s and Doctoral Degree. He then started serving USM in 1995 and later served Multimedia University (formerly known as Universiti Telekom) in 1997 for 4 years, after which he joined Kolej Yayasan Melaka as the Founding Director of Academic Affairs in 2000. In 2002, Shahrin started his academic career at Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), then known as Kolej Universiti Teknikal Kebangsaan Malaysia, where he held several prominent posts including as the Deputy Dean at the Faculty of Information Technology & Communications (2002), Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology & Communications (2006), the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic & International) (2013) and eventually as the Vice-Chancellor from 2014 till 2019. Prior to his appointment as the Vice-Chancellor of UTeM, he served for a short stint as the Director of Academic Development Management at the Department of Higher education, Ministry of Education in 2012. He also served as a member of the Board of Directors of UTeM from 2021 to 2023.   

Shahrin is instrumental in transforming every institution he served. While he was in Univeriti Telekom (now MMU), in the short span on time he established various centres and faculties, as the Director of Post Graduate Centre, Director of Foundation Studies, Director of IT Services and the Dean of Faculty of Information Science and Technology. He was the key author to the submission of the proposal for Telekom Malaysia to establish the first private university in Malaysia, along with TNB and Petronas. In recognition of his creativity and dynamism, he was appointed and the Director of Catalyst of Change by the President of the university then, Tan Sri Ghauth Jasmon, a one-time position created for the special task. Not only he was involved in the development of policies, systems and curriculum, he was also involved in designing and overseeing the physical development of both campuses of MMU in Cyberjaya and Melaka, especially the IT Infra and Info structure. 

At this stage, he has started becoming active to get involve with MIMOS especially after the establishment of Malaysia Computer Emergency Response Team or MyCERT in 1997 and later the formation of National ICT Security and Emergency Response Centre (NISER) in 2001. Besides contributing to the development of Malaysian Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) Policy and the National Cyber-Security Policy (NSCP), he also contributed to Cybersecurity Malaysia as a Member of Malaysia Common Criteria (MyCC) Scheme Management Board. His deep interest in the field of Networking and Cyber Security leads to his current initiative towards the establishment of the Consortium of Cyberange in Malaysia in partnership with Cyber Security Malaysia. He continues to contribute his knowledge to Cybersecurity Malaysia up to this date. As he was leaving MMU for KUTKM (now UTeM) he was solicited by Yayasan Melaka to assist the predicament faced by KYM to resolve the accreditation issues faced by the college. He served as the founding Director of Academic Affairs and well-being entrusted to sit in the Board of the College. Within a short span of time, he managed to assist KYM not only getting all the programmes accredited, but as well introduced new programmes in KYM among others, Diploma in Accounting which was ACCA ready. This was significant to the local talent development as KYM primarily takes in bumiputra students. His experience in NOSS development help KYM to move into the offering of TVET programmes in the early 2000 way ahead of other institutions. During his short stay in KYM, the number of students grew from a mere 3000 students to 10,000 students, together working hard with the team of management.

Moving back to the public university demands him to make adjustments as the work culture do differ in the public and private institutions. He moves on to participate in various initiatives involving ICT at the Ministerial level. He was one of the key members in the implementation of the MOHE Infosys Programme to strengthen and compliment IT Curriculum with Industry approaches and training materials. As the Chair of the ICT Deans Council, he helps in the development of the ICT Human Capital Development Framework for the Ministry of Higher Education in 2010. His expertise in curriculum development is frequently sought for by other institutions and the Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA) at which he sits in the Accreditation Committee, Chair the Computing Standard Committee and later as a member of the Board of Directors of MQA. As Dean, he also oversees the future proofing the  ICT curriculum continuing laying the foundation of where UTeM’s IT faculty is today with the most number of students in UTeM with GE reaching 99.5% during Covid times.   

As an academic, he has published over 140 technical papers at international conferences and journals. He has supervised more than 40 projects for undergraduates and postgraduates’ programmes. He is also actively involved in many committees and subcommittee as the chairman, co-chairman, panel, and advisory council at the state, national and international levels. 

Having served various Institutions in the State of Melaka since in 1996, he also contributed greatly to the acculturation of ICT to the local community and government agencies in the state. Among the initiatives that he was pivotal to the implementation in the late 90’s is the Radio Melaka On-line, Sekolah Melaka On-line, Computerization of Pusat Zakat Melaka, Al-Khawarizmi Astronomy Complex, and various state government initiatives. He is also active in Melaka Falak Syarie Association for the last 20 years in which now he serves as the Deputy Chairman. In recognition to his contribution to the State of Melaka, he was served the Bintang Cemerlang Melaka (BCM 2002), Darjah Seri Melaka (DSM 2007) and Darjah Mulia Seri Melaka (DMSM 2014).

He frequently engages the community by giving talks and seminars especially in encouraging the younger generation to adopt STEM education and transforming themselves through education to better serve and help their families, local communities, and the country at large. He used to have his own weekly radio programme every Wednesday for number of years conversing on education opportunity and ICT in general. 

In recognition of his academic achievements, research and administrative experience, Professor Datuk Dr. Shahrin bin Sahib was appointed as the 3rd Vice Chancellor of Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) from June 2014 until June 2019, leading the focus university to its pinnacle of excellence as one of the best technical universities in the world with his vast experience in the technical and technology field. His expertise is further recognised by his appointment as Fellow of Academy of Sciences Malaysia in 2018. He is also internationally recognised by his appointment the panel to Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic & Vocational Qualification (2015 – 2019), as a member of the Governing Board of Islamic University of Technology (IUT), Bangladesh in 2015 and later honoured by the conferment of an Honorary Doctorate by University Tokushima, Japan in 2019. He currently chairs the Ministry of Higher Education Polytechnic and Community College Transformation Committee.

He is married to Datin Dr Fadzilah Salim and blessed with five children, two daughter’s in-law and three grandchildren.