In the modern education landscape, universities are tasked to provide high-quality education, state-of-the-art facilities enriching internationalization programs, global standard research, sustainable community service, and internationally relevant curricula to ensure students are prepared to face the challenges of the interconnected world. Nevertheless, to achieve this, universities need to collaborate and that’s what the University Al-Azhar Indonesia (UAI) and International Open University (IOU) attempt to do. Especially, with IOU’s excellent pedigree as an Islamic university specializing in online classes, IOU has managed to tackle the modern challenges that UAI seeks to learn.
On February 13, 2025, IOU Indonesia delegations led by the Rector of IOU, Dr. Bilal Philips visited UAI to conduct a discussion of collaboration along with a visiting lecture in order to strengthen the scientific basis, community service and research of all Muslim students.
Silaturrahim
From the UAI side, Faculty of Psychology officials, Head of Office of International Affairs and Partnerships, Dr. Mohamad Ghozali Moenawar, Lc., M.M took part in the discussion and it was led by the Rector of UAI, Prof. Dr. Ir. Asep Saefuddin, M.Sc. Dr. Ghozali opened and led the discussion between the respective parties.
The discussion started with Dr. Bilal introducing IOU and the program they offered.
The idea of IOU started with the pitiful reality that land is currently and will soon run out and I wanted to build an Islamically guiding university, thus, IOU was born, an Islamic online university. We’ve branched out to universities in Islamic countries such as we have IOU in Indonesia where our departments such as Bachelor of Arts in islamic Studies, Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology, Bachelor of Arts in Arabic Language Studies, and etc. have been recognized by DIKTI (The Directorate General of Higher Education, Research, and Technology)
The end of IOU introduction brought us to the discussion between Rector of UAI and IOU.
Building Blocks
In the discussion, both parties agreed to sign an MoU and wished to explore other collaborations. Therefore, the Rector of UAI kindly appreciated Dr. Bilal visit to UAI which is far away from his place in Qatar and his intention to weave a profound partnership with UAI.
Even though UAI was established first, we learn massively from IOU practice and we hope, we can move further from an understanding that is MoU to a more practical agreement that is MoA. Because UAI’s dream is to have an online class your university is an expert in and to cultivate a robust bond with other Islamic Institution for the empowerment of the Ummah.
In his response, Dr. Bilal welcomed and shared Prof. Asep dream along with shared why a significant number of Islamic students learn in IOU.
At the moment, we have 11.000 students from 120 countries in IOU, this is because we offered an accessible fee for them to harness from the best lecturers we provided and obliged them to implement what they learn in class to the community as a requirement of graduation. This, I believe ties to your dream of empowering the Ummah, especially the underdeveloped ones. With that in mind, we also want your lecturer to teach in our class, offer a twinning program for our students to study in UAI and IOU, and other countless possibilities.
As the discussion bore a fruitful outcome, it ushered in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing between UAI and IOU. Moreover, the session covered an Implementation Agreement (IA) signing between the Faculty of Psychology of UAI and IOU.
MoU and IA Signing
The MoU signing was carried out by Prof. Asep and Dr. Bilal respectively.
Whilst, the IA signing was conducted between Dr. Drs. Fidesrinur, M.Pd. Dean of Psychology of UAI and Dr. Bilal transitioned us to the awarding session.
Awarding Session
The awarding session became a platform that enabled both rectors to exchange plaques.
Conclusion
With the awarding session concluded, the exploration of collaboration has come to an end and led us to the visiting lecture session. The discussion has opened up avenues of opportunities for both institutions to formulate and establish a clear blueprint for the empowerment of the Ummah around the world. Aaminn (BR).