Designing Islamic Finance Programmes in a Competitive Educational Space: The Islamic Economics Institute Experiment

This paper aims at exploring the experiment of the Islamic Economics Institute (IEI) of King Abdulaziz University in the design of the first ever Islamic finance higher educational programme at a Saudi Public University. An evaluative analytical framework has been utilized to meet this goal. Results show that the Institute has pursued a ‘glocalization’; thinking globally and acting locally approach in designing the programme. This approach aims at providing learners with ‘cutting-edge’ skills that will enhance their chances for employment at the local as well as regional markets. What are the advantages of this approach? And how can the Institute preserve its ‘distinctive research’ positioning that it has gained over the years, at the same time, being able to provide ‘world-class’ educational programmes?