Ajman, United Arab Emirates: Ajman University and its professor and director of the Center of Excellence in Islamic Finance (AU-CEIF), Dr Adnan Aziz, have won the prestigious Global Islamic Finance Awards (GIFA) from the UK’s leading body for Islamic banking awards around the world.

Ajman University is the first university in the United Arab Emirates to win this prestigious award as ‘Best Emerging Education Provider of the Year’ for 2021, for its contribution and commitment to the growth of the banking sector and Islamic financial. Additionally, Dr Adnan Aziz received the GIFA Islamic Finance Advocacy Award for the year 2021 in recognition of his decades-long service to the Islamic banking and financial sector.

The awards recognize contributions made by specialist faculty / experts from the AU College of Business Administration (CBA) and its Center of Excellence in Islamic Finance.

More than 150 students have completed undergraduate and MBA level Islamic finance related courses at Ajman University in the past two years alone. Collectively, ABC and AU-CEIF have already completed a number of important milestones, including publication of research articles, writing of books and chapters, participation in international conferences and seminars, oversight research projects / theses, participation on journal editorial boards, design of a number of courses, provision of professional training and consultancy services to companies and clients worldwide, and membership in professional organizations and various boards of directors. AU-CEIF, in collaboration with the Cambridge Institute of Islamic Finance, is also the co-editor of the industry’s oldest and largest annual publication, the Cambridge Global Islamic Finance Report 2021 (GIFR), which is scheduled to launch in October 2021.

Ajman University is the only university in the United Arab Emirates with an endowment of AED 3.2 million in the field of Islamic banking and finance. From spring 2022, the AU aims to launch a dedicated minor concentration in Islamic banking and finance at the undergraduate level, followed by plans for a master’s degree in Islamic finance later in the year. Parallelly AU aims to continue increasing the size of its endowment to improve education and research in Islamic banking and finance

Acknowledging the award, Ajman University Chancellor Dr. Karim Seghir said, “We are extremely grateful for this worldwide recognition of our commitment to Islamic banking and finance. Our Center of Excellence in Islamic Finance aims to be a leading source of information, education and research in the field. We are proud that Ajman University is the first university in the United Arab Emirates to win this award and is now regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts in Islamic banking and finance.

“The award is a testament to our unwavering determination to achieve excellence in the teaching of Islamic banking and finance. With a focus on teaching and research, coupled with years of leadership experience in Islamic banking and finance (IBF), we tend to combine theory with IBF practice – a key of success as an IBF professional, ”said Dr Adnan Aziz.

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About the AU:

Founded in 1988 as the first private higher education institution in the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf region, Ajman University (AU) is now recognized as an emerging leader on the global university map. The 2022 QS World University Rankings ranks AU among the top 750 universities in the world, making it one of the 2.5% of universities in the world to achieve this distinction. The AU is ranked among the top 8 universities in the UAE, according to QSWUR 2022.

© Press release 2021