How to build bridges between universities and Muslim colleges in Britain with partnerships and curricula

Within Britain there are demands for better, more inclusive understanding of Islam and the West. Internationally there are major changes afoot in the Arab world and it is likely that these changes will have a significant impact on British Muslims, who hold loyalties to the umma (the world wide Muslim community) as well as their allegiances to Britain. It is difficult to predict what form this impact will take, but all the more necessary to ensure that proper channels for inter-community and interfaith dialogue and debate are open. Over the last five years we have worked on three approaches to improving practical understanding in British higher education between Islamic and secular cultures; first, looking at partnerships between Muslim colleges and mainstream universities (Mukadam et al 2010); secondly, working with Muslim women to develop modules that can be taught within mainstream courses (Cheruvallil-Contractor and Scott-Baumann 2011) and thirdly, investigating the health of Arabic teaching in Britain (Scott-Baumann and Cheruvallil-Contractor 2012)