UIN Jakarta Shariah Faculty Curriculum Reform Project
ARC Federation Fellow, Professor Tim Lindsey of the Centre for Islamic Law and Society at the Melbourne Law School, in conjunction with Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), is pleased to announce the commencement of a partnership in curriculum reform with the Shariah and Law faculty of Indonesia's preeminent State Islamic University (UIN) Syarif Hidayatullah in Jakarta.ARC Federation Fellow, Professor Tim Lindsey of the Centre for Islamic Law and Society at the Melbourne Law School, in conjunction with Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), is pleased to announce the commencement of a partnership in curriculum reform with the Shariah and Law faculty of Indonesia's preeminent State Islamic University (UIN) Syarif Hidayatullah in Jakarta.Working with the Syariah and Law faculty Dean, Dr Amin Suma, and the UIN Deputy Head of Academic Affairs, Dr Jamhari Makruf, the project will undertake a comprehensive curriculum review of the Shariah and Law curriculum in 2009. This will be UIN's first law curriculum review in more than half a century. The review therefore aims to develop an expanded, more contemporary and internationally compatible law curriculum, as well as to improve the effectiveness and relevance of the current Shariah curriculum, so the two streams can interact more effectively to produce skilled Muslim lawyers for the 21st Century.
The project will also host an ‘Australian Law School Study Tour' for the Shariah Faculty Deans of Indonesia's six State Islamic Universities. The law school study tour, essentially aims to provide the Shariah Faculty Deans with comparative insights from another jurisdiction that will assist them develop and review curricula in their respective law schools.
Indonesia has a strong tradition of Islamic legal education, the demand for which continues to grow each year. This includes Islamic legal education at the primary and secondary levels, provided by Islamic schools known as pesantren and madrasah, and at the tertiary level, provided by a range of State and Private Islamic Higher Education Institutes, Colleges and Universities. This growing interest in Islamic legal studies among Indonesia's Muslim communities is consistent with a resurgent interest in the application of Islamic law in parts of Indonesia and also in asserting a more distinctly Islamic identity in many areas of life. In short, the study of Islamic law is simultaneously becoming more popular and, thanks to expanding application of syariah-derived legal norms in Indonesia, more relevant to everyday life and the practice of law.
As these trends continue, it is important that the institutions responsible for Islamic legal education in Indonesia are equipped to meet the challenges they present by expanding and developing their curriculum so that it reflects the contemporary context from which students come, and in which they will work after graduation. This is particularly important at the tertiary level where students studying Islamic law usually do so with the intention of pursuing a career in either the administration or teaching of Islamic law in government institutions (such as the Department of Religion or the Religious Courts), or in academic institutions (such as Islamic schools and tertiary institutes).
The curriculum reform project has the enthusiastic support of senior political, religious and academic figures in Indonesia. It has been recognized by Indonesia's National Minister for Religious Affairs, Maftuh Basyuni, by the former Minister for National Education, Malik Fajar, and by the Rector of Jakarta's State Islamic University, Komaruddin Hidayat, as an important opportunity for Australia to contribute to the development of quality legal education in Indonesia's Islamic tertiary institutions, thereby contributing to the improvement of human resources throughout Indonesia's professional legal fields, state departments and schools.
Ms Jemma Parsons will undertake the role of Project Manager for the Curriculum Reform Project.
Please direct enquiries to
Jemma Parsons, Project Manager:
jemmasp@unimelb.edu.au
or
Jessica Cotton, Senior Administrator, Centre for Islamic Law and Society:
jcotton@unimelb.edu.au
+61 3 8344 1122
For further information on Professor Tim Lindsey's ARC Federtation Fellowship please see http://www.lindseyfederation.law.unimelb.edu.au/