International approaches to Islamic studies

Description/Abstract

This report presents the results of a desk-based study of international approaches to Islamic Studies in higher education, commissioned by HEFCE in December 2007. ‘Islamic Studies’ is taken to include the study of Islam and Muslim societies in a variety of disciplines and departments, including named Islamic Studies programmes as well as Religious Studies, History, languages and literature, Politics, Anthropology and Sociology, and interdisciplinary area studies programmes in Middle East or South Asian Studies. Researchers investigated the historical development and current approaches to Islamic Studies in eight countries: the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, Australia, Malaysia and Turkey. For each country special attention was paid to recent developments in Islamic Studies and the responses of governments, policy makers and funding bodies, as well as to interactions between institutions of higher education and faith-based organisations and communities. Case studies were developed for each country, excluding the UK, in order to highlight examples of innovative practice in relation to Islamic Studies in higher education.