He attained his bachelor's degree in Islamic studies from University of Malaya (UM) in 1965.
[2] Kamal Hassan started his academic career at the National University of Malaysia, where he chaired the Department of Usuluddin and Philosophy in 1979 and was later made a full professor.
He then joined IIUM, where he founded the Faculty of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences in 1983.
He succeeded Abdul Hamid Ahmad Abu Sulayman as the third Rector of IIUM on 5 April 1998 and served in the office before passing it onto Professor Dato' Sri Syed Arabi Syed Abdullah Idid.
He was one of three academicians in Malaysia who was promoted to the rank of Distinguished Professor by the Ministry of Higher Education in 2010.