International Islamic University Malaysia


The International Islamic University Malaysia, also known as IIUM, is a public university in Malaysia. Headquartered in Gombak, Selangor, IIUM has six other campuses all over Malaysia: two medical-centric campuses and a Centre for Foundation Studies in Gambang, Pahang, two city campuses in Kuala Lumpur, and a language & tourism campus in Pagoh, Johor.
The university is sponsored by eight governments and the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation. It is distinct from the International Islamic University Islamabad, Pakistan and International Islamic University Chittagong, Bangladesh.
The university was established on 23 May 1983 and founded upon Islamic principles. Islamic values are inculcated into all disciplines. IIUM offers Bachelor's, Master's and doctoral degrees courses at its 14 faculties.
Since 1987, IIUM has produced more than 70,000 graduates and undergraduates from more than 100 countries around the world. Most of them were from Malaysia.

History

conceived of the idea for an international institution of Islamic education in 1982 during a meeting between OIC leaders about the Islamization of knowledge. The idea was shared with the then Minister of Education, Dr. Sulaiman Daud; the then Director-General of Education, Murad Mohamed Nor; and two others. Dr. Mohamed Kamal Hassan, then of the National University of Malaysia along with a senior academic official who attended the meeting, produced the first working paper on the concept of the university.
IIUM was once a private university. As the University's language of instruction was not to be Malay but instead English and Arabic, which was initially prohibited by Malaysian law, IIUM was initially incorporated under the currently-repealed Companies Act 1965. However, IIUM was officially made a public university on 23 May 1983, in accordance with Section 5A of the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971, when the University received its Establishment Order from the then King, Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang, after an exchange of Diplomatic Notes of Co-sponsorship between the Government of Malaysia, seven other governments and OIC.
A batch of 153 students from Malaysia and abroad were enrolled for the first academic session, which started on 8 July 1983. Courses were conducted under the Faculty of Economics, the Faculty of Laws, the Centre for Fundamental Knowledge and the Centre for Languages. The members of this first batch received their degrees and diplomas during the First Convocation held on 10 October 1987. 68 graduates were conferred the degree of Bachelor of Economics, 56 other graduated received the degree of Bachelor of Laws, and 29 Qadhis were conferred Diploma in Law and Administration of Islamic Judiciary.

Governance

As a public university, IIUM has a ceremonial head called the Constitutional Head. He/she presides over convocations and serves as the point of reference for all constitutional issues. Equivalent to the Chancellor in other public universities, he is appointed by the King on the recommendation of the Federal Government for a term of seven years.
Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang was the founding Constitutional Head since 1 July 1983. Prior to his demise, he was replaced by her daughter-in-law, the current Queen, Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah of Johor. She was made the Constitutional Head on 12 April 2019 for a five-year term, ending her father-in-law's chancellery in IIUM for 36 years, but the instrument of appointment was only presented to her by the Federal Government on 17 June 2019.
As a federal statutory body, IIUM operates under the supervision of a Board of Governors, a body that directs and supervises all affairs of the University. The Board is chaired by a President who is appointed by the Constitutional Head on the advice of the Federal Government for a five-year term. By tradition, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Education is Deputy Chairman of the Board. Other than the President and a Deputy Chairman, the Board comprises 15 members, including Secretary-General of OIC and diplomatic heads of member states, i.e. Bangladesh, Egypt, Libya, the Maldives, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Dr. Mohd. Daud Bakar, a renowned Islamic finance expert in Malaysia, sits as the eighth and current President since 1 July 2019.
The Board of Governors is assisted by a Senate, a body that provides for academic and student affairs of the University, and a Management Committee that oversees day-to-day operation of the University. Both the Senate and the Management Committee is chaired by a Rector who is appointed by the Constitutional Head on the advice of the Federal Government for a three-year term.

Leaders since 1983

Board of Governors

, IIUM Board of Governors comprises:
, IIUM Management Committee comprises:
IIUM is headquartered at a 700-acre campus at Gombak, Selangor and has six other campuses. Three of campuses are in Kuantan, Pahang, with the Centre for Foundation Studies situated at Gambang, medical-centric campus situated at Bandar Indera Mahkota and clinical campus situated near Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital. Two city campuses are located at Persiaran Duta and Jalan Damansara, Kuala Lumpur, and another campus is located at Bandar Universiti Pagoh, Johor.

Centres of studies

IIUM has 14 following faculties. Each of them is, in Arabic, called "Kulliyyah" :
There have been, however, other academic centres that are not equivalent to a Kulliyyah but offered pre-university, undergraduate and postgraduate courses:

ICT facilities

IIUM has online services, such as i-Ma'luum, in which IIUM students can check and organise their personal schedules and information in a centralized online database. IIUM has an e-learning and online community portal, where students can organise and coordinate their schedules, announcements and activities.

Library

IIUM has six libraries. The main library is situated at Gombak Campus together with IIUM Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance Library, and satellite libraries are located at Kuantan Campus, Centre for Foundation Studies at Gambang, Kulliyyah of Languages and Management at Pagoh, and Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas Library at Kuala Lumpur.

Cultural Centre

IIUM Cultural Centre is the university's biggest centre, used as a venue for the annual convocation ceremony. ICC can be converted to an examination venue. Cultural performances, talks and seminars have been held at the centre.

Azman Hashim Complex

The Azman Hashim Complex is a RM 7-million multipurpose hall and commercial centre that serves the needs of IIUM students. It is also a revenue source for the IIUM Endowment Fund.

Sports complexes

IIUM has four sport complexes. Two sports complexes are built separately for male and female students at Gombak Campus. Two other sports complexes are situated at Kuantan Campus and Centre for Foundation Studies at Gambang.

Hostel facilities

The students’ residential colleges in IIUM are known as "Mahallah", which is ‘neighbourhood’ in Arabic. IIUM residential colleges are self-contained not only with services but also activities, and are named after the leading companions of the Prophet and the female Mujahidah and Syuhada. Since the early years of its establishment, IIUM has practiced full accommodation for its full-time undergraduate students. For postgraduate students, accommodation is provided based on availability of rooms. Priority is given to non-Malaysian students, especially students from the newest intake.
Health facilities
Since 2016, IIUM has a teaching hospital called "IIUM Medical Centre" at Kuantan. Other than the teaching hospital, IIUM has a number of clinics and a specialist medical centre which are also at Kuantan, a Health and Wellness Centre at Gombak and a satellite clinic at Centre for Foundation Studies at Gambang.

Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Mosque

Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Mosque is located at the centre of Gombak Campus. The mosque's main prayer hall has a maximum capacity of 9000 people, with female prayer halls on the second and third levels. The mosque organises lectures, seminars and classes on concepts such as marriage and Janazah management, Tilawah and Tahfiz Al-Qur'an, as well as activities such as Qiyamullail and Tarbiyyah and training for students.
Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Mosque was also built in Kuantan Campus.

Academics

Students

IIUM started with 153 students in 1983. Today, approximately 3,000 students enrol each year. There have been, so far, approximately 27,000 students from over 40 Muslim majority countries studying in IIUM, as well as students from non-Muslim majority countries, such as Germany, Finland, China, South Korea, Japan, India, United States of America, Kashmir, Russia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.
From 1987 to 2012, 60,785 graduates and postgraduates have completed their studies at IIUM. Out of this, 53,241 were from Malaysia while 7,530 were international students. Having graduates all over the world, IIUM has established alumni chapters in Thailand, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Indonesia, Maldives, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Singapore. Branches of alumni chapters have also been opened in Turkey, China, Nigeria, the Philippines, Yemen, Brunei, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Gambia, Guinea and the United Arab Emirates.

Medium of instruction

The medium of instruction is English, with Arabic used in courses related to the study of Islamic sciences like theology, jurisprudence and ethics. Basic Arabic is a compulsory course. In addition, basic Malay language is compulsory for international undergraduate students.

Usrah

IIUM is the only public university in Malaysia that requires all of its foundation and undergraduate students to attend Usrah, i.e. Islamic study circle held weekly for the purpose of social, spiritual and intellectual enhancement. Since the establishment of IIUM, Usrah has been a requirement for students to graduate from IIUM. Since 2014, a separate Usrah has been held at residential colleges in addition to centralised Usrah, which is also compulsory to intermediate undergraduate students living in campus.

Achievements

Awards and recognition

IIUM has been well-known locally and internationally in the field of debate, public speaking and mooting. In 2014, IIUM was ranked tenth out of 440 teams participated in the 35th World Universities Debating Championship. In 2016, IIUM won the United Asian Debating Championship, the Australasian Intervarsity Debate Championship, and the Asian British Parliamentary Championship. In 2017, IIUM was made the runner-up of World Universities Arabic Debating Championship.
Other than joining and winning multi-level tournaments, IIUM has been successful in producing quality debaters and orators of Malay, English and Arabic languages, like Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, Ameera Natasha Moore, Mubarrat Wassey, Abdul Muiz Mustafa, Mohd. Sharul Nizam Md. Roni, Muhammad Nurfirman Mohamed and Muhammad Ikmal Hakimi Mohd. Helni.
In the field of research, IIUM have received recognition at regional and international level by winning gold, silver and bronze medals at exhibitions and expos, including PENCIPTA, INPEX, ITEX Geneva and KIPA. IIUM entered the inaugural Proton Green Mobility Challenge 2012 when the University's entry, an electric powered Proton Saga BLM named "Smart Mobility" became the overall champion and also took "Farthest Distance" and "Fastest Two Laps Challenge" award.
IIUM was involved in the creation of the Malaysian Shariah Index with collaboration from JAKIM and YADIM which Malaysia will be the first country in the world to adopt it. The index will measure the compliance of eight fields – judiciary, politics, economics, health, education, culture, infrastructure and environment, and social – with “maqasid syariah”, or the intentions of Shariah. The Malaysian Shariah Index was officially launched by the Prime Minister of Malaysia on 10 February 2015.

Rankings

IIUM is considered as one of the top five Islamic universities of the world and has been recognized as “The Premier International Islamic Research University” by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. In addition, it is one of the best public universities in Malaysia with a specific mission of Integration, Islamization, Internationalization and Comprehensive Excellence.

Notable alumni

Current faculty members