'Second International Conference on Islam and Higher Education: The Empowerment of Muslim Communities in Private Higher Education'

(Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia, 14-16 November 2011)

Abstract

For a civilisation that rests squarely on knowledge, the primacy of education throughout the Islamic world is given its due throughout history chiefly by private individuals and groups. Notwithstanding state patronage of scholarship, the bulk of literature is often produced by independent scholars. But this historical reality came under serious challenge with the advent of the modern expansionist state, whose centrality in the public sphere gave birth to its dialectical Other, the private sector. Responding to this challenge, IAIS Malaysia organised the Second International Conference on Islam and Higher Education in collaboration with the Yayasan Pahang (Pahang State Foundation), IKIP International College, International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) East Asia and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).