آموزش جغرافیایی مالیه اسلامی در فضای جهانی

The education of Islamic finance has witnessed a drastic increase in different regions of the world over the last few years. This paper proposes to study the geo-educational dynamics of Islamic finance, i.e. the relationship between educational space and power. In this geo-educational rivalry some interesting facts are coming out. For instance Britain is outpacing motherhood countries of Islamic finance; in terms of the number of programs provided by UK higher education institutions. Malaysia, on the other hand, is striving hard to consolidate its position to become an educational hub for Islamic finance. What does this dynamism tell us about the current and future cartography of Islamic finance education? Which countries and/or regions are going to take a lead? What sort of realities might develop at Universities, Departments and other higher educational institutions? Finally what sort of implications will these developments have upon the floats of Islamic finance discipline?

The liberalization of trade in goods made since 1948, under the GATT has led in 1994 to the signing of a new agreement called ‘General Agreement on Trade in Services’ (GATS) and the creation in 1995 of the World Trade Organization (WTO). With the establishment of the GATS, the liberalization process has extended to services, including education designed as a service to the business world (ERT 1995:36). In addition, the fall of the Berlin Wall gave rise to the ‘head-to-head’ competition among the contenders of the ‘laissez-faire’ capitalist camp. In this rivalry and very dynamic atmosphere economic, cultural, commercial and even educational tools are pushed to their end by the players to attain certain gains and score more points that may let them be well ahead of their rivals. On the other hand, Islamic finance (IF) as an emerging phenomenon, that came into being only over the last five decades or so, at the international scene picked up dramatically since the mid 1990’s. Its growth rates have almost doubled from 14% during 1994-2002 to 26% in the 2003-2010 periods (Warde, 2010). Therefore, it is anticipated that the development of the various aspects of IF, including educational one, is indispensible of the effects the aforementioned eventualities.

In a globalized world where competing powers seek new fields of operation; the geo-educational approach provides additional reading grid of international relations. It sheds light on the redrawing of the educational map. Behind the announcement effects of a particular country aiming to become the educational hub in Islamic finance, there are hidden power rivalries that do not appear at first. Among the issues of this rivalry that may appear at this stage are the standards; jurisprudential, prudential, rating, and accounting & auditing, that relate to IF industry. Arbitration appears to be gaining momentum. All such developments will have far reaching consequences to the development of the IF discipline and its curricula at higher learning institutions, especially if they gain recognition from an international standards-setting like the BIS, and the backing of an international institution like the IMF, and, may be a regional backing as one from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB). Such realities are possible if we take setting for IF industry.