Australian university to offer Islamic finance course

La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, is to be the first university in the country to offer a masters degree in Islamic commerce. The course will begin in February 2009 and will cost AU$17,000 (US$14,000), and will be either one or two years’ duration depending on the priority of the student. The course should appeal to international students from the subcontinent, and those countries in Asia which value learning about Shari’ah-compliant finance in the English language.

Eight subjects will be covered, including legal and Islamic jurisprudence, Islamic commercial law, Islamic banking, Islamic insurance, Islamic financial markets and general areas of finance. The course has been set up to respond to the expected growth in demand for staff in Islamic finance which, according to experts’ estimates, might require up to 50,000 extra employees in the next five to ten years. A number of banks in Australia are already active in Shari’ah-compliant finance, such as Kuwait Finance House (KFH) and HSBC. National Australia Bank (NAB), one of the country’s top financial institutions, has also been researching Islamic finance options, including buying into a Shari’ah-compliant industrial property trust. NAB has attempted to build bridges with the domestic Islamic community by setting up a scholarship in Islamic finance, named after Sheikh Fehmi Naji El-Imam, Mufti of Australia.

Hayat Khan, co-founder of the course at La Trobe University, believes that Islamic finance will account for 40 to 50 per cent of total savings of the worldwide Muslim population within a decade.