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The International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) is a private publicly-funded university in Malaysia. The main IIUM campus is located in Gombak, Selangor. IIUM is sponsored by eight different governments from the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Although the university was founded on Islamic principles, it admits non-Muslim students as well.

It is completely distinct from the International Islamic University in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Background

IIUM was first conceived in 1982 by then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad during a special meeting between OIC leaders to establish an international institution for tertiary education based on Islamic principles (the Islamization of Knowledge). It was officially opened on 10 May 1983 at Petaling Jaya, with the late Tun Hussein Onn elected as the first president.

IIUM is a private university and operates under the direction of a Board of Governors with representatives of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) as well as eight sponsoring governments. Nevertheless, the Constitutional Head, President and Rector of this international university are all Malaysians. The current Constitutional Head is the Sultan of Pahang, Sultan Hj Ahmad Shah al-Musta'in Billah. (The central mosque is named in his honour.)

Faculties, Centres, and Campuses

Presently, the university has moved to a sprawling 700 acre (2.8 km²) campus at Gombak, Kuala Lumpur. The original campus in Petaling Jaya has been converted to a matriculation centre. Apart from these two campuses, IIUM has another two campuses—the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC), Kuala Lumpur and Kuantan, about 250 km east in the state of Pahang; ISTAC might more properly be referred to as a research institute rather than a campus. Nevertheless it comes within the administration of the University.

IIUM has 10 faculties, called 'kulliyyah' in the University after the Arabic—the only institution in Malaysia to call them as such. Two faculties unique to IIUM are the Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws (AIKOL) and the Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences (KIRKHS). Other courses offered include various disciplines of engineering, architecture, information technology, biological and chemical sciences, and economics and management sciences.

The faculties (kulliyyah) of IIUM are:

The Kuantan campus houses the Kulliyyah of Medicine, Kulliyyah of Allied Health Sciences, Kulliyyah of Pharmacy and Kulliyyah of Nursing.

There are 12 'excellence centres'. Among the notable centres include the IIUM Breast Centre, located in the Kuantan campus and devoted to the research and diagnosis of breast cancer, the number one killer of women in Malaysia.

The Cultural Activity Centre (CAC) is the University's biggest centre, which is significant as a venue for the annual convocation ceremony. The centre also can be converted as an examination venue. Several cultural performances, talks and seminars were held at the centre; but the most notably was the 2003 Asia Pacific Indigenous Plays Festival which featured international cultural performances from Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Japan and the United States of America.

Mosque of Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah

The Mosque of Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah lies in the centre of the main campus grounds, interconnected to the rest of the administrative and academic buildings. This is symbolic of the Muslim belief that religious and worldly education are indivisible and inseparable from each other. IIUM is also noted for its gleaming blue-tiled roofs and characteristic sandstone buildings.

IIUM started with just 153 students in 1983, but today approximately 3,000 students enroll each year. Although this is an uncommon practice in Malaysian universities, every student is entitled to have their own rooms in hostels within the IIUM campus.

Medium of instruction and compulsory course

The medium of instruction is English, with Arabic used in courses related to the study of fiqh and sharia. Basic Arabic is a compulsory course, even for non-Muslim students. In addition, basic Malay Language is also compulsory for international students.

Students

As of 2005, there were approximately 20,000 students from over 40 Islamic countries studying in IIUM, as well as students from non-Islamic countries with a sizable Muslim minority (such as Germany, the Philippines and Thailand).

Perhaps significantly for an Islamic institution, the ratio of female-to-male students is 3:1.

IIUM is particularly well-known, at least in Malaysia, for its extensive law library and research centre, as well as for producing top-class university debaters; the University was placed seventh in the world varsity rankings in 2003.

Tudung controversy

In October of 2005, the university was highlighted in Parliament by opposition leader Lim Kit Siang of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) who raised the subject of female non-Muslim students being barred from attending their convocation unless they wore the headscarf (tudung in Malay). The headscarf bears Muslim connotations in Malaysia.

As a result of this university policy, Foo Yueh Jiin (25 years old), who graduated with honours (second upper) in law was barred from attending her convocation on the 30th of August 2005.

Eventually the Minister of National Unity, Maximus Ongkili, ruled that the university's decision did not violate "basic human rights" and that the university's policy, which had been introduced by the university Senate, was "a matter of uniforms that must be followed".

The issue had also been raised earlier in parliament, in 2003, when IIUM alumnus Fong Po Kuan, also a Member of Parliament (MP) from the DAP, recalled being forced to don a headscarf for her graduation ceremony. Then, she had been assured by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education, Mahadzhir Mohammad Khir, that although wearing the tudung was encouraged, it was not compulsory. However, in 2004, the university Senate made it mandatory for female students to wear the tudung to their convocation ceremony.

The Cabinet later decided that donning the tudung, including to the convocation ceremony, would be made optional for all Malaysian undergraduates. After the meeting that made the decision, Ongkili told the press that the Ministers agreed no student, including those of the Muslim faith, should be coerced into wearing the tudung.

Famous alumni

It is also noted that then Pime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and Sultan of Brunei of Brunei were conferred honorary doctorates in political sciences.

References

Educational institutions established in the 1980s | Moslem universities and colleges | Universities and colleges in Malaysia

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "International Islamic University Malaysia".

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