Tan Sri Sir Dr Jeffrey Cheah KBE AO recognised for Global Impact in Education
More than six decades after arriving in Australia as a young Malaysian student, Tan Sri Sir Dr. Jeffrey Cheah KBE AO returned to his alma mater last week to receive the VU Global Impact in Education Award, recognising a lifetime of work widening access to higher education and building academic partnerships.
The Award was presented at VU’s 110th anniversary gala event, in front of 550 guests including VU staff, students and alumni, industry partners, government representatives and community members, and Australia’s 27th Prime Minister, Dr. Julia Gillard.
Earlier in the day, he also delivered an inspiring speech about education, leadership and purpose at a VU graduation ceremony, reflecting on a journey that began in Pusing, a small tin-mining town in Malaysia, and ultimately led to the creation of one of Southeast Asia’s leading conglomerates and a foundation that has reshaped the landscape of education philanthropy in Malaysia.
Several years after graduation Dr Cheah returned to Malaysia and founded the Sunway Group in 1974. The Group first established its education arm, Sunway College, in 1987, building pathways and programs that expand international opportunities for students in the region – including an ongoing collaboration with Victoria University since 1994.
For Dr Cheah, the recognition represented a nostalgic return to the institution where he studied accounting in the 1960s, then known as Footscray Institute of Technology. In 1993 he also became Victoria University’s first recipient of an Honorary Doctorate, the first of numerous international honours acknowledging his contributions to education and nation-building.
VU Vice Chancellor Professor Adam Shoemaker extended thanks and congratulations to Dr Cheah:
Tan Sri Sir Dr Jeffrey Cheah has established institutions, transnational partnerships and pathways that have opened doors for generations of learners across Malaysia and beyond.
“In an extraordinary act of philanthropy, he gifted his entire equity interest in Sunway Education Group to the eponymous foundation in perpetuity, creating a not-for-profit model in which surpluses are reinvested in education, research, scholarships and grants.
“The scale of the gift is matched by the ambition behind it, ensuring that the institutions he founded would continue serving future generations long after his own lifetime.”
Speaking to graduates, Dr Cheah remembered arriving in Melbourne in 1964, as “a young man far from home, with much to learn and no clear idea of where life would take me.”
Recalling how educational opportunity altered the trajectory of his own life, he urged graduates to view learning not as a stage of life but as a lifelong pursuit. He also challenged them to define success not solely by career achievement or financial gain, but by the positive impact they leave on other people’s lives.
