Jakarta, FU Online News – The Faculty of Ushuluddin (FU) of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta and the Institute of Qur’anic Sciences (IIQ) Jakarta have officially established institutional cooperation through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Monday, July 14, 2025, held in the Meeting Room of the Faculty of Ushuluddin. This agreement marks a significant milestone in strengthening collaboration between two Islamic higher education institutions that share a common focus on the development of Qur’anic and Tafsir studies.

The MoU was signed directly by the Dean of the Faculty of Ushuluddin, Prof. Ismatu Ropi, M.A., Ph.D., and the Director of IIQ Jakarta's Postgraduate Program, Dr. M. Azizan Fitriana, M.A., and was witnessed by study program leaders and academic staff from both institutions.

In his remarks, Dr. M. Azizan Fitriana expressed that IIQ has benefited greatly over the years from the involvement of lecturers from the Faculty of Ushuluddin as teaching staff. However, there had never been a formal document to regulate the cooperation. “We are here to strengthen institutional ties and to learn about managing postgraduate programs, including meeting educational standards, accreditation benchmarks, and academic governance systems,” he said.

Responding to this, Prof. Ismatu Ropi welcomed the partnership as a concrete step toward expanding academic networks. “We will begin collaborating on various activities. God willing, by the next semester, we can implement lecturer and student exchanges in academic courses,” he stated.

Prof. Ropi also emphasized the importance of following up on international partnerships, especially with institutions in Uzbekistan such as the Imam Bukhari Center, the Imam Turmudzi Center, and the Maturidi Center. He highlighted the need for in-depth studies on the influence of Maturidiyyah thought in Indonesia, which has long been overshadowed by the dominance of Ash‘ariyyah. “We can start with collaborative article writing, and then move forward to joint research mentoring and publications,” he added.

From the study program side, there was also discourse on reviving the tradition of reading Shahih Bukhari with an unbroken chain of transmission (sanad) between IIQ and FU as a way to reinforce the classical Islamic scholarly heritage that maintains scholarly transmission.

The event was attended by:

• Prof. Ismatu Ropi, M.A., Ph.D. – Dean of the Faculty of Ushuluddin, UIN Jakarta

• Dr. M. Azizan Fitriana, M.A. – Director of the Postgraduate Program, IIQ Jakarta

• Dr. Lilik Umi Kalsum, M.A. – Vice Dean II, Faculty of Ushuluddin, UIN Jakarta

• Dr. Aktobi Gozali, M.A. – Vice Dean III, Faculty of Ushuluddin, UIN Jakarta

• Dr. Ahmad Fudhaili, M.Ag. – Head of the Master’s Program in Qur’anic and Tafsir Studies, FU UIN Jakarta

• Dr. Ahmad Syukron, M.A. – Head of the Doctoral Program in Qur’anic and Tafsir Studies, IIQ Jakarta

• Dr. Samsul Ariyadi, M.Ag. – Head of the Master’s Program in Qur’anic and Tafsir Studies, IIQ Jakarta

• Mayadah Hanawi, M.A. – Academic Staff, Master’s Program in Qur’anic and Tafsir Studies, IIQ Jakarta

• Dafika Andiani, M.Ag. – Academic Staff, Doctoral Program in Qur’anic and Tafsir Studies, IIQ Jakarta

Through this MoU, both institutions commit to a long-term partnership in strengthening academic quality, research, and the preservation of Islamic scholarly traditions, with the aim of delivering higher education that is excellent and relevant both nationally and globally. (Ishmatun Nisa)