Prison Initiative, which is newly introduced in Ghana, is now offered in 17 states across USA. Alhamdulillah, the number of participants is now 736.

IOU was promoted across Nigeria via promotional tour, calls, and WhatsApp group; unfortunately, there is a ban on online education that caused a drop in enrollments.  Nigeria is also one of the states where IOU Udhiyah services are offered. 

A new IOU learning center was opened in Philippines with free internet services where Islamic education is being offered and registrations taken.

Indonesia welcomed Dr. Bilal on his visit to Jakarta, which encouraged local community and the number of registrants increased significantly. 

  

 IOU Morocco student committee consisting of only one sister, Sr. Carin, conducts an amazing work. One of the biggest challenges is the language since English is not a commonly spoken. Nevertheless, that did not stop Sr. Carin who is actively promoting IOU through personal recommendations to those in her network. 

In September 2015, Dr. Bilal promoted IOU during his visit to Malaysia. Recent MOA signing between IOU and Yayasan Ta’lim should encourage students to enroll. 

 

In September 2015, Dr. Bilal promoted IOU during his visit to Malaysia. Recent MOA signing between IOU and Yayasan Ta’lim should encourage students to enroll. 

Among the challenges facing the IOU Kenya student committee is local Salafiya movement and some ‘old school’ scholars, which promote opinion that religion cannot be taught online. New institutes of higher learning also discourage online studies. Furthermore, some students feel lost after the discontinuation of the live sessions. IOU Kenya team has met these challenges with teaming up with IOU friendly scholars, and initiated partnership with Madinah and Ummah University graduates. Recent signing of MOU with Ummah University is also very promising. 

In Canada, IOU promotion is done at various conference such as RIS, Being Me, Sound Heart, and Twins of Faith. However, securing exam centers in certain areas is a challenge. And even though IOU Awareness Day was well planned and executed, the attendance was not as expected. 

August is vacation time in KSA; hence, Awareness Day was postponed. IOU KSA team has a plan to promote IOU to new converts and at schools, hospitals, masjids, and WAMY events. IOU KSA team also plans to promote the IOU Ijazah program among the local hufuzah. 

 

Heavy promotion was also done in Somalia via internal and external promotions including various methods such as calling and meeting students, various presentations, lectures, radio and TV promotions, and WhatsApp groups. In order to encourage volunteers and express gratitude for their efforts, certificates of appreciation were given out. 

 

There was an expansion of offline IOU programs in The Gambia. Courses such as IAP, Islamic Banking and Finance, Psychology, and Education were introduced along with computer courses. Increasing popularity of the Intensive English Course can be seen in the enrollments for 2015-2016 doubling its number of students. Alhamdulillah, with the help of fundraising, IOU head office is partially renovated and office is in use now. Space offers potential eight lecture rooms. The official opening is scheduled for January 2016. Challenges facing IOU in The Gambia are bad internet connection and computer literacy. 

Restructuring of the student committees is one of the IOU Pakistan strategies to improve functionality and effectiveness of local student support and outreach. IOU Pakistan is convinced that working as an organized national body with professional structure throughout Pakistan will offer more professional, strong, efficient, and long-term services. The team organized 3-4 promotional activities, called to over 150 potential students, and resolved all issue of newly registered students through personal phone calls. Alhamdulillah, an MOA was signed with IIQL.

IOU Ghana team concluded the presentations of representatives and student committees by their presentation, which showed heavy promotion of IOU via TV, radio, and WhatsApp groups. They also use T-shirts and posters as promotional materials. The pilot project under the Prison Initiative began with 50 inmates and an officer. Expansion of the project is planned soon after. Current project is also the establishment of the English Islamic Library at the IOU Ghana office. Anyone who would like to donate some books, please contact IOU Ghana representative. 

Student committees received points for communication and task delivery. The highest scores received South Africa team followed by India – Kashmir and Morocco.

The announcement of the Awareness Day winner concluded the meeting. India – Kerala team received the award and Kenya – Nairobi is the runner up. 

 

Prison Initiative, which is newly introduced in Ghana, is now offered in 17 states across USA. Alhamdulillah, the number of participants is now 736.

IOU was promoted across Nigeria via promotional tour, calls, and WhatsApp group; unfortunately, there is a ban on online education that caused a drop in enrollments.  Nigeria is also one of the states where IOU Udhiyah services are offered. 

A new IOU learning center was opened in Philippines with free internet services where Islamic education is being offered and registrations taken.

Indonesia welcomed Dr. Bilal on his visit to Jakarta, which encouraged local community and the number of registrants increased significantly. 

  

 IOU Morocco student committee consisting of only one sister, Sr. Carin, conducts an amazing work. One of the biggest challenges is the language since English is not a commonly spoken. Nevertheless, that did not stop Sr. Carin who is actively promoting IOU through personal recommendations to those in her network. 

In September 2015, Dr. Bilal promoted IOU during his visit to Malaysia. Recent MOA signing between IOU and Yayasan Ta’lim should encourage students to enroll. 

 

In September 2015, Dr. Bilal promoted IOU during his visit to Malaysia. Recent MOA signing between IOU and Yayasan Ta’lim should encourage students to enroll. 

Among the challenges facing the IOU Kenya student committee is local Salafiya movement and some ‘old school’ scholars, which promote opinion that religion cannot be taught online. New institutes of higher learning also discourage online studies. Furthermore, some students feel lost after the discontinuation of the live sessions. IOU Kenya team has met these challenges with teaming up with IOU friendly scholars, and initiated partnership with Madinah and Ummah University graduates. Recent signing of MOU with Ummah University is also very promising. 

In Canada, IOU promotion is done at various conference such as RIS, Being Me, Sound Heart, and Twins of Faith. However, securing exam centers in certain areas is a challenge. And even though IOU Awareness Day was well planned and executed, the attendance was not as expected. 

August is vacation time in KSA; hence, Awareness Day was postponed. IOU KSA team has a plan to promote IOU to new converts and at schools, hospitals, masjids, and WAMY events. IOU KSA team also plans to promote the IOU Ijazah program among the local hufuzah. 

 

Heavy promotion was also done in Somalia via internal and external promotions including various methods such as calling and meeting students, various presentations, lectures, radio and TV promotions, and WhatsApp groups. In order to encourage volunteers and express gratitude for their efforts, certificates of appreciation were given out. 

 

There was an expansion of offline IOU programs in The Gambia. Courses such as IAP, Islamic Banking and Finance, Psychology, and Education were introduced along with computer courses. Increasing popularity of the Intensive English Course can be seen in the enrollments for 2015-2016 doubling its number of students. Alhamdulillah, with the help of fundraising, IOU head office is partially renovated and office is in use now. Space offers potential eight lecture rooms. The official opening is scheduled for January 2016. Challenges facing IOU in The Gambia are bad internet connection and computer literacy. 

Restructuring of the student committees is one of the IOU Pakistan strategies to improve functionality and effectiveness of local student support and outreach. IOU Pakistan is convinced that working as an organized national body with professional structure throughout Pakistan will offer more professional, strong, efficient, and long-term services. The team organized 3-4 promotional activities, called to over 150 potential students, and resolved all issue of newly registered students through personal phone calls. Alhamdulillah, an MOA was signed with IIQL.

IOU Ghana team concluded the presentations of representatives and student committees by their presentation, which showed heavy promotion of IOU via TV, radio, and WhatsApp groups. They also use T-shirts and posters as promotional materials. The pilot project under the Prison Initiative began with 50 inmates and an officer. Expansion of the project is planned soon after. Current project is also the establishment of the English Islamic Library at the IOU Ghana office. Anyone who would like to donate some books, please contact IOU Ghana representative. 

Student committees received points for communication and task delivery. The highest scores received South Africa team followed by India – Kashmir and Morocco.

The announcement of the Awareness Day winner concluded the meeting. India – Kerala team received the award and Kenya – Nairobi is the runner up.