Eighteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

There has been an increased access to Islamic higher education in Kenya and Tanzania in the last forty years.This is evidenced in the mushrooming of universities and colleges in these two countries which are essentially anchored on Islamic values, philosophies, principles, and theories. At the same time, in public universities, the departments of Religious education have also increased their capacity in terms of faculty members, curriculum, and learning materials in the area of higher Islamic education.This raises attention to the emerging issues that characterize the pedagogy of contemporary higher Islamic education. This paper focuses specifically on the following questions: What are the driving factors in the eastern African social, economic, and political environment that have enhanced the interest in the study of higher Islamic education? Secondly, what are the pertinent changes or reforms in higher Islamic education in Kenya and Tanzania since 1978 in the areas of curriculum, staffing, financing, and and research? Lastly, how has international terrorism impacted on contemporary Islamic higher education? The paper relies on descriptive research design to get relevant data.