Developing Islamic finance professionals: Frankfurt School backs balanced approach

An overwhelming proportion of people without access to finance are from Muslim-majority countries, as formal financial markets often fail to provide access to credit or savings that are compliant with the Muslim faith. Islamic microfinance has the potential to fill that gap through the provision of Sharia-compliant microfinance products. To broaden the reach of Islamic microfinance products, well educated professionals, with a skillset combining proven microfinance practice with the principles of Islamic finance, are needed.  

Frankfurt School of Finance & Management has been addressing this need in offering an e-learning course on Islamic Microfinance since 2016. Together with its partner, the Islamic Relief Worldwide, Frankfurt School has developed a curriculum that allows conventional microfinance professionals, mainstream Islamic finance professionals as well as donors and investors to learn the fundamentals of Islamic finance and how they can be applied to microfinance.

When offering continuing education for Islamic finance professionals, most institutions restrict their curriculum to this topic. Dr. Barbara Drexler, Associate Dean at Frankfurt School, and Michael Crayne, Development Finance Consultant for the business school, have written an article in the Islamic Finance news on why it makes sense to combine education in Islamic finance and conventional (micro)finance. They argue that this approach leads to a more balanced skillset and thus can be a source for innovation in the field.

Here you can download the full article “Pure Islamic finance degrees – is that the way to go in developing Islamic finance professionals?”. It was first published in Islamic Finance news Volume 15 Issue 25 dated June 20, 2018.