Muslim Ownership Of Private Universities, Colleges Needs To Be Strengthened

KUANTAN (MALAYSIA), Nov 14 (Bernama) -- Muslim ownership and management of private universities and colleges in Muslim-majority countries and Muslim-minority communities need to be strengthened to cater to the increasing demand for higher education arising from growth in the Muslim population. Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Prof Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said empowerment of Muslim communities to own, manage and control higher education institutions will make the field more responsive to local needs and aspirations. "Empowerment of communities to establish, finance and manage private higher education institutions will require training and capacity-building at various levels and a sufficient pool of expertise in teaching and management which can ensure quality and balance between purely market-driven motives and the academic perspective." He said this in his keynote address which was pre-recorded and showed to the 2nd International Conference on Islam and Higher Education (ICIHE) participants, here, Monday. Also present were ICIHE organising committee chairman Professor Emeritus Dr Osman Bakar and chairman of the Federation of Universities of the Islamic World (FUIW) Executive Council, Prof Dr Suliman Abdullah Aba-Alkhail. Ekmeleddin said Muslim community leaders and civil society would have to actively engage with the government through public-private partnerships. He said studies conducted recently in some selected OIC member states had brought to the fore some very encouraging examples of public-private partnerships in higher education. "Traditionally in Muslim communities, charitable endowments (waqaf funds) have played a major role in funding education, and there is a need to strengthen such mechanisms based on the historical experiences of many OIC member states." He said such experiences could be shared between the OIC member states and Muslim-minority communities through the various OIC platforms. At a press conference, Osman said Muslim ownership of higher learning institutions, including in Malaysia, was still low compared to other communities in the world, and the conference would provide the groundwork for future enhancement and development of private higher education in the Muslim world. For example, he said, the existing owners of Islamic higher education institutions could look into measures to turn their private universities and colleges into a global network. "Islamic education should not be limited to certain countries. Maybe we can set up Islamic universities and colleges at the regional level with our counterparts," he said. -- BERNAMA