| EXECUTIVE SUMMARY |
| |
|
|
| 3 |
|
An Institute of Islamic Civilisations.
The Commission believes that AKU has a unique opportunity as
a Muslim university to address problems of great and urgent
contemporary importance. It can do so through the establishment
of an institute devoted to the study of Islamic civilisations,
aiming to produce research and writings that would serve widely
to bring more enlightened understanding of the Islamic heritage
and its contemporary relevance, and to contribute to the development
of Muslim societies. We believe that such an institute should
be established in Europe, and preferably in the United Kingdom.
It can begin on a modest scale, but should do so quickly; we
give this recommendation for a new component of AKU priority
over the others we are recommending. |
| |
|
|
| 4 |
|
An Institute of Human Development. The
Commission has been persuaded that understanding of the development
of human beings through the life cycle, and in particular of
the effects of conditions in early childhood on subsequent well-being
and performance, will be of exceptional importance for the policies
and practices of developing countries in coming decades. The
health and energies of the populations of these countries will
have decisive importance for their progress. AKU with its beginnings
in the health sciences and education is well positioned to develop
and apply this now-rapidly-advancing field of knowledge. |
| |
|
|
| 5 |
|
An Institute of Economic Growth and Society.
The Commission has reviewed various ways in which AKU might
pursue its mission in the service of development. The University
is already deeply engaged in problems of health and education
but there are many other problems it might address. Our review
of the changes in the world has shown a new importance of markets
and economic ties that stretch over national boundaries into
whole regions. We have been impressed that continuing economic
growth, and the arrest of decline in Africa, are essential to
the future well-being of the developing and Muslim worlds. Understanding
of economic growth and strategies for advancing it have been
undergoing great changes and the opportunity exists for AKU
to join in a search that could be of critical importance for
countries such as those in Africa, South Asia and Central Asia
that are of particular concern to it. We believe there is an
opportunity for AKU to develop a first class institute in this
field, such as does not now exist in or is not now focused on
the Muslim world. |
| |
|
|
| 6 |
|
An Institute of Planning and Management of
Human Settlements. The extensive engagement of the Aga Khan
in the fields of architecture and historic preservation has
made it natural to consider what role architecture may have
in the future development of AKU. It is evident that it will
be important in the work of the Institute of Islamic Civilisations
we are recommending. In one of the Commission's meetings, staff
of the Aga Khan Program in Islamic Architecture at Harvard and
MIT and the General Manager of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture
advanced the idea that institutions devoted to research and
graduate study in architecture and development were needed in
many parts of the Muslim world. As the Commission has discussed
this idea, it has broadened its concerns to embrace the study
and planning of processes of rural and urban change throughout
the developing countries. We conceive that such study and planning
must embrace many subjects, including the design of infrastructure,
environmental problems, migration, and local government. The
work of such an institute will be able to build on AKU's experience
in community health, economic development, education and other
fields but it will not be easy to develop quickly. We have therefore
concluded that the institution of this component of AKU should
be delayed until the latter part of the period we are considering. |
| |
|
|
| 7 |
|
A Faculty or College of Arts and Sciences.
The Commission has come to envisage the growth of a liberal
arts college offering first level university degrees at some
time in AKU's future. The reasons are several. One has been
the deterioration of such education in AKU's areas of concern.
Another has been the movement in the Faculty of Health Sciences,
and in some AKES institutions, toward preliminary or postsecondary
liberal education. With the feeling that such education may
help AKU contribute better leaders for society and perhaps help
bring better governance, these various motivations have come
together to make us favourable to a liberal arts college or
faculty in AKU's future. We think this will be an expensive
undertaking if done well, as it must be; it should not be started
in the first decade ahead, but steps toward it can be taken
in that period. |
| |
|
|
| |
|
The Commission has, in the course of its work,
examined several other possible components of the future AKU
which it has chosen not to recommend. Our concern over the problems
of governance of Muslim societies was particularly stimulated
by His Highness and the idea of a special unit of AKU devoted
to governance or public administration was explored. We were
not, however, persuaded that AKU could make an important contribution
in this way. We have rather placed our hopes in what AKU may
do through educating leaders and through better analysis of
the origins and charter of governance problems through work
on Islamic civilisations and the roles of government and political
stability in economic growth. Likewise we are not recommending
specific AKU programmes in information sciences and environmental
studies though we recognise the great importance of both.Our
views are that AKU must maintain first-class competencies in
the use of modern information and communication technologies
but that this does not mean it should establish special instructional
and research programmes in them; somewhat similarly, we hope
and expect that various AKU programmes earlier discussed will
make significant contributions to the environmental problems
of Pakistan and other countries, without attempting to establish
a special programme devoted to them. |
Page 1 2
3 4
|
