The Institutional Infrastructure Supporting the Islamic Finance Industry 27
Academic programmes
The International Islamic University of Malaysia has undergraduate
programmes in economics, accounting and business administration that
enable students to get some exposure to Islamic economics and finance,
although most of the course contents are conventional. Atpostgraduate level
more specialized study in Islamic finance is possible, as is the case with the
InternationalInstituteofIslamicEconomicslocatedwithintheInternational
Islamic University in Pakistan, which offers a one year Postgraduate
Diploma in Islamic Banking and Finance through evening study, as well as
an MSc over three years withscheduled morning classes.
The UK-based CASS Business School launched an executive MBA with
an Islamic finance stream in 2007. The programme is offered in Dubai in
collaboration with the Dubai International Financial Centre. The two-tier
programme involves established MBA modules in accounting, marketing,
finance and business economics, with the Islamic finance options coming
near the end of the course. The three specialist components are in Islamic
economics, Islamic banking and finance and Islamic law of business
transactions. In neighbouring Qatar, the Faculty of Islamic Studies, which
is sponsored by the Qatar Foundation, is adding an MSc in Islamic Finance
to its existing masters programmes in Islamic Studies from 2008 onwards.
The new faculty is separate from the University of Qatar, but will be moving
to the new Education City in Doha once its buildings are completed. Details
of the new degree structure are not yet finalized.
For research degrees in Islamic finance, Durham University in the UK
has become the leading international centre, attracting suitably qualified
applicants from throughout the world, including Malaysia and the Gulf. A
master’s degree by research is offered at the university, which involves
students writing a thesis of 30,000 words on an Islamic finance topic that
they can negotiate with their supervisor. Doctoral degrees involving a
minimum of three years of supervised study are also offered, with students
writing a thesis of 80,000 words. There are dedicated research support
workshops and a module on Islamic political economy and Shari’a compliant
finance that students are expected to attend. PhD students spend part of
their first year in Durham, but during the second and third years they often
undertake fieldwork in their country of origin or elsewhere, as most of the
research involves empirical studies.
