The Islamic Economics Institute (IEI) at the King Abdulaziz University (KAU) will launch its first international four-day executive education program in Islamic finance on Sunday.
Senior executives from Europe, North America and East Asia will be participating in the event. The inaugural and introductory session will be held at the King Faisal Conference Hall on KAU’s main campus.
Abdullah Turkistani, dean of IEI, said the university along with its partner, IE University in Madrid, has been working on the initiative for some time and the IEI has been providing training program on Islamic finance to Masters level students.
He said that IEI had the experience and capability to disseminate information to decision makers. “Now, it’s the right time for such a course,” he said.
Stating that the program would be a milestone for the institute, Faisal Atabani, vice dean of the IEI, said: “Islamic finance has won the conceptual debate in post financial meltdown, but the bigger challenge lies in legal framework both in amendments and enactments.”
The IEI, after evolving into an institute from a research center, will also launch executive masters in Islamic finance on Jan. 30.
While the master’s degree program is a two-year course, the executive education program is just for a week.
Kaleem Alam, the executive education program coordinator, explained: “This is a unique program ... Normally programs are conducted at one venue, while this one will be spread over four different venues.”
He said the participants will visit four different institutions and will have nine sessions. The IEI is also introducing moderated roundtables in its executive education program after basic introduction to the concepts at the KAU and the advances at Islamic Development Bank.
The participants would be visiting Alkhabeer Capital and Saudi Economics Development Company (SEDCO). Leading experts, including Munawar Iqbal, Sami Suweilem, Kenneth Baldwin, Ibrahim Aboulola, Ahmed Belouafi, Nicholas Polley, and Abdulkader Thomas will be delivering lectures.
KAU to launch education program on Islamic finance
