Ghauth Jasmon commenced his position as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Malaya on 10th November 2008. Prior to this appointment, he has held the position of Founder President/CEO of Multimedia University (MMU) for 11 years and subsequently as the Chief Executive Officer of Unity College International for 10 months.

After completing his MCE in 1974, he was offered a JPA scholarship to further his studies in the United Kingdom in Electrical Engineering. He graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering in 1979 from the University of London. Upon completion of the Bachelors Degree, he was offered 2 scholarships to continue his studies at the PhD level, one was a tutorship from the University of Malaya and the other was Drapers Scholarship from the University of London. He chose the JPA tutorship to pursue research in the area of Power Systems Engineering and was awarded the Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of London in July 1982. His academic career began with the appointment as a Lecturer in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Malaya in 1982.

He was appointed the Head of the Electrical Engineering Department in 1986 to 1988. Based on his credentials, Ghauth was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 1989 and to Full Professor at the University of Malaya in 1992. In the same year, he was appointed as the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and held the position until August 1995. During this period as Dean, he introduced the Built Environment Programmes in the University of Malaya namely Degrees in Architecture, Land and Quantity Surveying and also several new Engineering degrees such as Materials, Telecommunication, Manufacturing and Environmental. Based on this track record, Ghauth was appointed the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Development) in August 1995. In this position, he was responsible for the physical development and upgrading of many physical facilities across the university.

Ghauth was invited by Telekom Malaysia Berhad to set up and build Multimedia University (MMU) in Melaka, the first government-approved private university in which he commenced duty as President/CEO in December 1996. In March 1997 the Malaysian Cabinet instructed MMU to build a second campus in the heart of the Multimedia Super Corridor, Cyberjaya. By the end of 2007, MMU has 22,000 students, 1,100 academic staff in 2 campuses with 4,000 international students from 80 countries. In January 2008, Ghauth left MMU to join a private college, Unity College International as CEO and shareholder. In this short stint of 10 months, he prepared the ground work for the formation of another private university within the group.

As an academic, Ghauth has contributed extensively in research and in the Engineering Profession. He has conducted research in the areas Power Systems Analysis, Network Analysis, Voltage Stability, System Security and Neural Network Applications. These and other works have been published in 30 international journal papers and 45 conference/seminars and other publications. He has also been involved in many professional engineering committees and activities especially in the IEE (UK) and IEEE (USA) and was formerly a Secretary General and Vice President of the Association for Engineering Education in South East Asia and the Pacific. He is a Fellow of the IEE, Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, a Senior Member of the IEEE and an Eisenhower Fellow.

Ghauth sees his current mission in UM is to transform the university into a truly world class institution by focusing on building solid academic fundamentals within the academic and student body. While doing so, he will at the same time be driving a higher level of entrepreneurship in the university community, establishing more active international networking and forging greater interaction between the university and industry.