Milestone in the History of Dutch Higher Education:
Accreditation of the Islamic University of Rotterdam
 
The Islamic University of Rotterdam (IUR) has been founded in 1997. It is a Dutch University with an Islamic basis. The IUR aims to promote the scientific education of the Islamic tradition within the contemporary Dutch society. To reach this goal the IUR offers academic education with a curriculum of which the scientific traditions which have been crystallized in the Islamic world are an important part.

The IUR has one full faculty: the Faculty of Islamic Sciences wherein the education is organized according to the bachelor+master structure. Here, the students can enter in four programmes: bachelor Islamic Sciences, Master Islamic Sciences, Master Islamic Moral Guide and the Master Imam Education.
The IUR has organized her education in a bachelor- and master phase. In the bachelor the education guides the student within the World of the Islamic intellectual tradition and gives it a place in the actual social and scientific context, nationally and internationally. On this way the IUR endeavours to contribute to the formation of a broadly educated intellectual Muslim cadre to which the demand grows rapidly.

In the Master education the student has the possibility to deepen his or her knowledge in a specific part of the Islamic intellectual tradition or to specialize as imam or Moral Guide.  Besides this Faculty the IUR has some Institutes, like the Rumi Art Centre, the Institute for Languages and the Quran Recitation Institute. In these Institutes courses and workshops are being organized. Examples of courses are calligraphy, paper marbling, Arabic language courses, and course for playing some typical instruments for Sufi music; furthermore the IUR organizes certificate programmes for people who do not want to follow a complete curriculum but who are willing to get more knowledge on Islam. The Quran Recitation Institute is the Institute in which the ten styles of recitation are taught by a specialist who has an ijaza for this education from Turkey and from Egypt.  The IUR also organizes courses on location. The staffs of the IUR are demanded speakers on seminars, conferences, symposiums on national and international level.

The Executive Board of the IUR has decided in 2001 to start the preparations for the procedure of accreditation according to the Dutch Law for Higher Education (WHW). After the preparations were finished in 2003 the IUR has applied for an accreditation. In this process for accreditation the IUR was visited by a visitation committee on 8 and 9 October 2009. This committee visited and judged the Master Education for Moral Guide of the Islamic University of Rotterdam. The conclusion of the committee was very positive. The report of this committee was sent to the NVAO which used it to decide about the accreditation of the Programme. This positive decision (no: 4042) of the NVAO fell on the 20th of May 2010. This decision enables the IUR to enter the Dutch Higher Education System. Now the University has the same rights and duties as the other accredited Universities except for budget.

The IUR staffs are very happy with this decision. This is a milestone in Dutch history. For years the IUR staffs has worked for this result. It is known in the academic world that every programme is judged and accredited separately. The IUR staff is now preparing for accreditation applications for the other programmes.  
On the 8th of June the IUR invites you all for a reception to celebrate this historical event. The reception will be from 14.00 hours at Bergsingel 135 3037 GL in Rotterdam, in the Erdebil Hall.

 http://www.nvao.net/beoordeelde-opleidingen/detail/3492