The International Open University (IOU) is a private

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance; today, it usually involves online ...

university headquartered in

Kanifing Kanifing is a municipality, Local Government Areas of the Gambia, local government area and Districts of the Gambia, district in the Gambia. It is part of the Greater Banjul Area, to the west of Banjul, and is governed by Kanifing Municipal Co ...

The Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

. It was founded by

Bilal Philips Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips (born Dennis Bradley Philips; July 17, 1947) is a Jamaican-born Canadian Islamic scholar and author who is the founder and chancellor of the International Open University, who lives in Qatar. He has been described as a ...

, in 2007 and offers undergraduate and graduate degrees.

History

The university was Initially established in 2001, but temporarily ceased operations. In April 2007, it reopened under the name Islamic Online University with a greater offering of completely free short courses. On January 13, 2020, it was announced that the institution's name has been changed to the International Open University.

Ernest Bai Koroma Ernest Bai Koroma (born 2 October 1953) is a Sierra Leonean politician who served as the fourth President of Sierra Leone from 17 September 2007 to 4 April 2018. Born and raised in Makeni in northern Sierra Leone, Koroma spent more than 24 y ...

, the chancellor of the

University of Sierra Leone The University of Sierra Leone is the name of the former unitary public university system in Sierra Leone. Established in February 1827, it is the oldest university in Africa. As of May 2005, the University of Sierra Leone was reconstituted into ...

(USL) welcomed the idea of establishing the IOU type Islamic institution. In 2014, the

Niger State Niger State is a state in the North Central (Nigeria), North Central region of Nigeria, bordered to the east by Kaduna State and the Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria), Federal Capital Territory, to the north by Kebbi State and Zamfara State, ...

Government paid the International Open University's Bachelor of Arts school fees for 35 students that registered from the state. As of 2018, the International Open University is amongst the most ethnically diverse universities in the world. In 2018, the International Open University's programs were ranked among the six best online

Middle Eastern Studies Middle Eastern studies, sometimes referred to as Near Eastern studies, West Asian Studies or South Western Asian studies, is a name given to a number of academic programs associated with the study of the history, culture, politics, economies, an ...

programs by Successful Student, although by June 2020 they had been removed from this list. In 2021, the online

Kenyan The Demographics of Kenya is monitored by the Kenyan National Bureau of Statistics. Kenya is a multi-ethnic state in East Africa. Its total population was at 47,558,296 as of the 2019 census. A national census was conducted in 1999, although t ...

newspaper ''Tuko'' ranked the International Open University among the top accredited

distance learning Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance; today, it usually involves online ...

universities in Africa, along with the

University of Johannesburg The University of Johannesburg, colloquially known as UJ, is a public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant fundi ...

, the

University of Zambia The University of Zambia (UNZA) is a public university located in Lusaka, Zambia. It is Zambia's largest and oldest learning institution. The university was established in 1965 and officially opened to the public on 12 July 1966. The language of ...

, the

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA) is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, UNISA has over 400,000 student ...

, the

University of Nairobi The University of Nairobi (uonbi or UoN; ) is a college, collegiate research university based in Nairobi and is the largest List of universities and colleges in Kenya, university in Kenya. Although its history as an educational institution dat ...

and the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria (, ) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and ''de facto'' capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of the Johan ...

, in addition to few other universities. In November 2022, the IOU Chancellor Dr. Bilal Philips paid a courtesy visit to

Adama Barrow Adama Barrow (, born 15 February 1965) is a The Gambia, Gambian politician and real estate developer who has served as President of The Gambia since 2017. Born in Mankamang Kunda, a village in Jimara district, he attended Crab Island Secondary ...

, the

President of the Gambia The president of the Republic of the Gambia is the head of state and head of government of the Gambia. The president leads the Executive (government), executive branch of the Politics of the Gambia, government of the Gambia and is the comma ...

, and offered scholarships worth USD 4,000,000 for education of underprivileged Gambians at the International Open University.

Affiliations

The International Open University is a full member of

Association of African Universities The Association of African Universities (AAU) (, ) is a university association of African universities based in Accra, Ghana. With member institutions all around Africa, AAU provides a forum for cooperation and exchange of information on higher ...

, approved member of International Council for Open and Distance Education, African Quality Assurance Network (AfriQAN), Association of Quality Assurance Agencies of the Islamic World (IQA), associate member of

International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

(INQAAHE), Asian Association of Open Universities, as well as a member of International Council of Islamic Finance Educators (ICIFE) and a member of the Talloires Network.

Research

The International Open University launched a multidisciplinary

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

journal, ''Journal of Integrated Sciences'', in 2019. Professor Dr. G. Hussein Rassool, the dean for the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, head of the Department of Psychology, Director of Research and Publications and Professor of

Islamic Psychology Islamic psychology or ''ʿilm al-nafs'' (Arabic: علم النفس), the science of the ''nafs'' ("self" or " psyche"), is the medical and philosophical study of the psyche from an Islamic perspective and addresses topics in psychology, neuroscien ...

at the International Open University is

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of the journal.

Community service

The International Open University has set a mandatory

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community contributing to a noble cause. In many cases, people doing community service are compensated in other ways, such as gettin ...

for the students as a part of graduation requirements. In order to graduate, in addition to academic requirements, students are mandated to complete 216 hours of

References

External links

International Open University

Global Qur'an Memorization Center
{{Authority control Islamic universities and colleges Educational institutions established in 2001 Online universities and colleges Distance education institutions based in the Gambia 2001 establishments in the Gambia