The International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), founded in 1093, has developed over the years into an innovative, forward looking centre of comprehensive excellence with a well-deserved reputation in professional and educational research and publications, consultancy and student services and facilities.
IIUM has four beautiful campuses located in breathtaking valleys. The buildings were designed to be faithful to Islamic architecture while accommodating advances in learning technology.
IIUM maintain close contacts with leading professional institutions and business and industrial organisations, both in Malaysia and abroad. These links give an edge in the recruitment of teaching and research personnel. Many of them actively work behind the scenes in the development and operation of various international agencies.
Currently, IIUM is home to more than 15,000 students and 2,424 of academic and administrative staff members. A substantial number of the students and members of the academic staff are expatriates. In all, about 100 countries are represented.
Graduates from IIUM are admired for their capabilities, including their language skills, not only in the organisations where they pursue their careers, but also in universities throughout the world where they have gone for further studies.
What is unique about IIUM is its model of integrated education.
Furthermore, it is the only public university in Malaysia that uses English as the medium of instruction in all faculties.
IIUM thinks of itself as a huge community and therefore regards its campuses as self-contained villages in which all students-and not just those who live in hostels can feel at home.
The facilities and services provided on campus, in addition to their obvious purposes, are meant to provide this feeling of community in spite of the diverse backgrounds and cultures the students come from.
The Host Country
It is hard to imagine a country more appropriate than Malaysia to host an international university, especially one with an Islamic character. This culturally-diverse country has for centuries been the meeting place of East and West and is today populated not only by the Malays and scores of indigenous tribes, but also ethnic Chinese, Indians, Arabs and Europeans.
Malaysia is one of the top tourist destinations in Southeast Asia, attracting more than 10 million international visitors every year.
No doubt the people's hospitable character has a lot to do with this, but the country has also been blessed with a wondrous natural beauty. Despite rapid physical development which has transformed many traditional villages into modern cities in the last two decades, the country is still rich with lush green forests, unspoilt sandy beaches and countless other holiday spots with exotic features that cannot be found anywhere else.
IIUM offers a wide range of academic programmes geared towards skill-building
Kuala Lumpur, the capital city, is a veritable metropolis. It boasts the world's currently tallest structure, the Petronas Twin Towers, and is just about an hour's drive from one of the largest and best-equipped airports in the world.
Malaysia is widely regarded in the Muslim world as one of the most progressive, peaceful and stable Muslim countries. Although the national language is Malay, English is widely used all over the country.
Student Life
IIUM pays serious attention not only to the academic needs of students but also their religious and moral life as individuals and members of an international Muslim community. Thus, the university prohibits any activities regarded as immoral by Islamic Law, such as smoking on campus. However, no effort is spared to ensure that they live a decent student life during the time that they are part of the IIUM community. Below are just some of the services they enjoy:
- RECREATION and SELF-DEVELOPMENT: There are ample opportunities and facilities for sporting and other extracurricular activities for both males and females, with clubs for athletics and team sports, societies catering to academic and cultural interests, and other self-development associations.
There are currently more than 80 such organisations.
- COUNSELLING: Few international students have experienced problems of adjustment when they join IIUM, but for those who do, there is a large internationally-staffed body of advisers and peer counsellors to help them resolve these and other difficulties.
- FINANCIAL SERVICES: Enquiries about grants and sponsorship should be made directly to the sponsoring agencies. The university is unable to provide financial support for students except for a small number of highly deserving cases.
- ON-CAMPUS JOB OPPORTUNITIES: Postgraduate students may apply for jobs as graduate assistants. This is very competitive because the positions available are small in number.
Academic Programmes
IIUM offers a wide range of academic programmes geared towards both skill-building and scholastic attainments and designed in accordance with IIUM's model of integrated tertiary education, which is built upon the belief that knowledge must be pursued and propagated as an act of worship, in full recognition that it is a trust which the Almighty has placed upon mankind.
The university offers postgraduate degrees in the humanities and the natural and technical sciences. There are currently more than seventy degree-programmes administered by nine faculties, designated as "kulliyyahs". |
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