Professor Dr Serif Ali Tekalan, Turkey

Internationalization of Higher Education;
Islamic Perspective
Prof. Dr. Şerif Ali TEKALAN
Rector
Fatih University, 2011

• As a result of
Changing World
– Developments in Technologies
– Internet
– Social Media
• Nothing stays local; Goodness and Badness
spreaded all over the world.

Globalization or Internationalization
• Globalization
Process of integration over national borders
Cultural Unity
Used to explain Economic, Military, Environmental Elements
Global Competition, global Needs
• Internationalization
Process of increasing awarnes of interaction among cultures
Within local cultures and between cultures
National and cultural diversity

Internationalization of HEIs
• Globalization influences HEIs by market competition
and forces them to become int. institutions.
• Internationalization of HEIs
– One of the results of the globalization
– Satisfy world widely demands
– Solve the global problems

Priority of Int. of HEIs
• Survey by International Associations of Universities
– In 2006
– %73 of HEIs gave High Priority
– %23 of HEIs gave Medium Priority
• Internationalization of HEIs is the only way.

Questions Related Int. of HEIs
• Why is Internationalizaiton of HEIs so important ?
• What kind of Internationalization?
• Are there any sample practices from Islamic
History?

Why Internationalization
• Etymology of university is
«The Universe; The Whole»
«Combination of Universe and City»
• Benefit of Int. of HEIs European Organization
for Nuclear Research (CERN)
– 664 and 724 million € for 2008 and 2009
– 8000 scientists and engineers
– 2500 full time staffs
– From over 110 Countries

Other Reasons for Internationalization
• Univeral Messages of Islam can be presented by
International HEIs
• «o humankind! …. made you into tribes and
families so that you may know one another…»
Surat Al-hujurat
• Practices of Prophet (PBUH)
– Sending invitation to heads of states
– Sharing a part of his Masjid with Christians of Najran

What kind of Internationalization?
• Questions:
– Staying local NO
– Accepting everythings from different cultures NO
– Leaving all of our local values to aside NO
– Just importaning cultures NO
– Glocalisation YES
• Globalization + Local Thought = Glocalisation
– Importing filetered values and exporting your own

Glocalisation
It is not new, iT was defıned by Jalal ad-Din
Muhammad Rumi
“LIKE A COMPASS I STAND FIRM WITH
ONE LEG ON MY FAITH AND ROAM WITH
THE OTHER LEG ALL OVER THE SEVENTY-
ONE NATIONS.”

Best Practices from History
Int. Student Admission
• The Prophet Mohammad (s.a.w) is also a
theacher.
• Accepting people, like
– Suhayb Ar-Rumi from Byzantine
– Salman al Farsi from Persia
– Bilal al-Habashi from Etihopia
• It was international student admision, wasn’t
it?

Best Practices from History
Int. Student Admission
• Suffa, a part of the Prophet’s Masjid in Madina
• Higher Education of Islam
• Equipped with knowledge and sent to places
in where people want to learn Islam.
• Abdullah ibni Salam, former Jewish Rabbi, was
welcomed by the Prophet (s.a.w)
• Don’t you think this is a practice similar to
faculty Exchange?

Best Practices from History
International HEI, Beyt al Hikmah
• Beyt al Hikmah; House of Wisdom
• Founded by Caliph Harun al-Rashid in the 8th century.
• Established as Translation center and became research
center.
• The works of Aristotle, Plato , Hippocrates, Euclid, and
Pythagoras were studied.
• Greek, Indian, and Persian texts are translated.
• Had a Christian Scholar as a head of translation
activities.
• It was an international curriculum, international
approach, and international institutions.

We were familiar Int. of HEIs, we have
to be familiar again.
• Eventhough Internationalization is a relatvely
new concept for HEIs, we can find many
practices from our history related
Internationalizaiton. Therefore, we should
force us to own internationalization and
internalize it, and get benefits of it.

Our logo summarize our internationalization policy; having
contacts from all over the world by int. Faculty, int. Students,
int. Cooperation, int. Curriculum developments.

Located in Istanbul

What we are doing at Fatih University
Teaching the philosophy of
«Be so tolerant that your heart becomes wide
like the ocean. Become inspired with faith and
love for others. Offer a hand to those in trouble,
and be concerned about everyone.»

Some Facts
• Founded in 1996
• 7 Faculty
• 2 Higher Vocational School
• 3 Institute
• 4 Vocational School
• 12237 Students
• Transdisciplinary Approcah

Facts and Figures
• International Student has almost %30 off.
• 900 students from almost 90 countries
• 160 educational partnership agreements
• 70 faculty members from 38 countries.
• Faculty and Student Exchange
• English Medium of Instruction

Pictures from Int. Atmosphere

International Association of Universities (IAU)
• Founded in 2006
• University Networks
• The Goal is assisting universities for their
internationalization
• Organizes Rectors Meetings
• In the last meeting in 2007, there
were 70 rectors form 17 countries
• Visit universities around the world
• 13 Member University from 13 Countries

Members of IAU
• Ataturk Alatoo University, Kyrgyzstan
• Epoka University, Albania
• International Black Sea University, Georgia
• International Burch University, Bosnia Herzegovina
• International Zaman University, Cambodia
• Ishık University, Northern Iraq
• Lumina University, Romania
• Nigerian Turk Nil University, Nigeria
• North American University, USA
• Qafqaz University , Azerbaijan
• Suleyman Demirel University, Kazakhstan
• Turkmen Turk University, Turkmenistan
• Vistula University, Poland