KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 30): Sunway Group founder and chairman Tan Sri Dr Jeffery Cheah has been named as an honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by His Majesty King Charles III of the UK, in honour of his services to higher education, health services and philanthrophy, a press release issued by the British High Commission of Kuala Lumpur on Monday said.

The honorary award is also in recognition of the instrumental role Cheah played in forging high-level partnerships with a number of UK institutions — University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, Lancaster University, the Royal College of Physicians, the UK government's Chevening Awards flagship scholarship programme, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) — and contributing towards the bilateral relationship between the UK and Malaysia, the statement added.

In the statement, Cheah said, “I am deeply overwhelmed and greatly humbled by the award of the Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire conferred on me by His Majesty King Charles III. It is particularly welcomed as the honour is bestowed in recognition of services to higher education, health services and philanthropy — exactly the sectors in which Sunway Group and Jeffrey Cheah Foundation are making a difference in the world. I consider this honour not just a personal one, but an award that recognises the efforts of everyone affiliated with Sunway Group and Jeffrey Cheah Foundation in positively impacting society and our beloved country.”

Cheah is also the founder and trustee of Jeffrey Cheah Foundation, which owns and governs all entities in Sunway Education Group under a not-for-profit structure. To date, the statement said the foundation had disbursed more than RM670 million in scholarships to provide educational support to qualified students in need, and endowed many chairs and professorships at a number of world-renowned universities, including the University of Cambridge and University of Oxford in the UK, to facilitate knowledge transfer and bring experts to Malaysia.

In the education sector, the statement highlighted that the affiliation between Sunway University and Lancaster University since 2006 had resulted in a successful transnational higher education partnership that won the “UK-Malaysia Education Institutional Partnership” award at the British Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (BMCC) Business Excellence Awards 2022.

Additionally, the partnership between Sunway TES Centre for Accountancy Excellence with the ACCA and ICAEW for almost 30 years has been producing talents in the fields of banking, finance and accountancy.

In terms of healthcare, the partnership with University of Cambridge saw Sunway Medical Centre in Sunway City Kuala Lumpur appointed as a regional site partner of the Cambridge University Clinical Research Centre, and the establishment of the Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre as part of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in the UK.

The statement said, “In addition to playing a pivotal role in the UK’s response towards Covid-19, the Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre houses more than 300 scientists conducting cutting-edge research to address the latest and emerging public health challenges.”

A recent endeavour of Cheah is the partnership between Sunway Group's Sunway Innovation Labs with Cambridge-based venture capitalist firm Deeptech Labs to accelerate the growth of net zero technologies, and open new avenues for UK start-ups in the Asia-Pacific region.

In the statement, British High Commissioner to Malaysia Her Excellency Ailsa Terry said, “It was an honour for me to have personally informed Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah of his honorary award. He is an extraordinary entrepreneur who has built and led Sunway Group to a successful conglomerate with investments in the UK. Equally remarkable is how he continues to invest in the future generations through education, healthcare and philanthropy in Malaysia and the UK. All these have contributed immensely to the bilateral relations.”

The high commissioner will present the honorary award to Cheah on behalf of King Charles at a later date, the statement shared.