Master in Applied Islamic Finance

Overview

The banking and finance sector has witnessed great developments during the past two decades including the appearance of the Islamic finance products that became a strong global alternative and competitor to the traditional investment and finance. This revolution in finance and investment can be evidenced by the presence of hundreds of Islamic financial institutions spread around the world as they are located in more than sixty countries in the Middle East, Southern Asia, Europe, America, Africa and Australia. This can be shown in the studies and reports issued by specific journals, research centers and relevant authorities. According to data from the year 2017, a study published in the peer-reviewed scientific Bait Al-Mashura magazine that the total value of the financial assets worldwide of Islamic finance reaches $2.43 trillion, including 1.72 assets for Islamic banks and banking, and it is expected that the value of assets will rise by 56% to reach almost $3.8 trillion by 2023, of which $2.44 trillion are assets of Islamic banks.

The number of employees and staff at the Islamic institutions reaches 250 thousand employees around the world, more than half of them are located in the Middle East, and 85% of these staff are with traditional commercial banking backgrounds, and so it is necessary to raise the level of qualification of workers and increase their capabilities to find investment opportunities and develop human resources by putting general strategies.

Locally, there are many General Islamic Financial organizations in Palestine, that aims mainly to support the economic and development of the country, and so this program was designed to encourage and enhance the relation between the academic institution and the private sector, especially the Islamic financial organizations. In other words, this program will work to enhance the relation between the theory and the practice in the financial businesses related to the moral values that Shariaa is the main resource for it, and to transfer the experiment of other countries which work in the Islamic finance to Palestine and the Arab countries. The applied Islamic finance has a great importance to an important segment of society that represents the financial and business sector, and so, this program will provide great job opportunities in the economic sector. From here came the idea of a master’s program in Applied Islamic Finance, as it is the only program specialized in applied Islamic finance in Palestinian universities in the West Bank, this gives Arab American University an advantage over other universities.

Goals

This program aims to achieve general and specific goal including:

General goals represent in opening new opportunities to students of the Fiqh, Shariaa, Islamic Economic and Economic and Finance programs in Arab American University and other universities and the workers in the Islamic financial field to complete their higher education in the Applied Islamic Finance and other programs as well. This program is an academic applied program that offers a master’s degree in Applied Islamic Finance by offering courses that correspond to the basics of the Islamic economy. We expect that this program will have great demand from students because it seeks to raise the academic level of the targeted students and qualify them scientifically and practically to the needs of the labor market locally and internationally.
Specific goals represent in graduating students holding a master degree in Applied Islamic Finance who have knowledge and skills in the academic and practical parts in order to work in the Palestinian universities in teaching and research, and in the traditional Islamic financial organizations, central banks and supervision committees.

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOME

It is expected that this program has two types of outcomes:

Firstly: General Outcomes

Get a comprehensive understanding of the economic, financial and legal environment that the Islamic finance providers work in.
Evaluate the different legislative, legal and Fiqh trends, especially the ones related to the Palestinian economic system.
Conduct specialized researches in the financial and economic Islamic sciences.
Compare the Palestinian financial environment with other similar environments in the Arab and global financial systems.
Capability to work and financially analyze according to the principles and basics of the financial management, and to analyze and study the experiments and problems of the Islamic financial management and suggest solutions.
Provide economic, legislative and financial solutions that help in developing special legislatives in the Islamic financial system and hence develop the society.
Number of Sharia standards controls issued by the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions, and related to Islamic financing formulas in Islamic banks.
Define the monetary policy and its objectives, the central banks and its functions, the goals and functions of the Islamic bank and its role in development, the financial resources of Islamic banks, the managerial systems of Islamic banks, deposits and their types in Islamic banks, and Islamic financing formulas and procedures such as Murabaha and Musharaka (profiting and participation).
Capability to do a successful banking marketing according to studied scientific steps and strategies.
Show the best ways to resolve conflicts of the Islamic financial institutions.
Determine the best products to develop in a dual banking environment.
Define the types and resources of risks in Islamic finance and determine the ways to measure it and the legislative tools to manage it.
Capability to do accounting process work to the different financial formulas and the financial lists in the Islamic financial organizations according to Islamic standards.
Capability to analyze the cases and find solutions through implementing theory into practice.
Practice team work in resolving issues.
Capability to do the financial business for real firms in the market.
Understand and realize the theories and basic principles in managing Islamic organizations.
High skills in applying the operational side application of solidarity.
Deep understanding of the organizational and legal requirements of the Islamic financial contracts.
High skills in understanding the new theories and connecting them to the basic and Islamic Fiqh rules.
Capability to determine the standards that according to it can be judged the suitability of any transaction or contract to the Islamic economic rules and principles through which the nature of compliance with Shariaa is understood.
Capability to know the conditions and standards that need to be available in the members of the supervision and legislative bodies in order to be able to judge the transactions and contracts.
Capability to realize the Shariaa, Fiqh and economic basics that deeds are issued according to.
Capability to evaluate deeds and how successful or failure they are in fulfilling the market needs.

Secondly: Specific Outcomes

Looking at the courses of the Master in Applied Islamic Finance, graduates are expected to have the following skills:

Have knowledge and capabilities in working in the academic and practical side in Palestinian universities in teaching and researches, and to work in the Islamic financial institutions, the traditional organizations, the central banks and the legislative committees.
Upgrade the academic and practical levels for targeted students and qualify them practically and scientifically to fulfill the needs of the labor market locally and internationally.
Have knowledge and understanding to apply the basic principles of the Islamic Fiqh and its impact on the Islamic financial organizations and their financial sides.
To know the Islamic financial products, its components and function in the different financial markets.
To have good knowledge in the legal environment that organize the work of the Islamic financial organizations to achieve the nest opportunities for the success of these institutions and the performance of their desired role.
Capability to deal with developments and contemporary challenges and link them to jurisprudence rules and purposes.
The ability to manage Islamic financial institutions rationally, and make it work in accordance with standards of integrity, transparency and accountability.
Enable students to practice a great deal of independence, initiative and creativity in scientific and practical life.

Careers of Graduates

Graduates of this program are expected to be good qualified in the Islamic finance and economic, and will be able to work in the private sectors such as:

To work in administrative and executive positions in the different Islamic financial organizations locally and internationally.
To work in the Palestinian Monetary Authority and the central banks in the different countries.
To work with legislative supervision committees in the Islamic financial organizations.