Press Releases Archive
08.06.2016
Training Muslim social and pastoral workers for today’s Germany
Tübingen’s Center of Islamic Theology launches new Master’s program
From winter semester 2016-17, the University of Tübingen’s Center of Islamic Theology will be offering a new Master’s Degree program in Practical Islamic Theology – Pastoral Care and Social Work. The four-semester program will aim to prepare its graduates to work with members of the Muslim faith in Germany’s hospitals, refugee shelters, schools, prisons, facilities for the aged, in the armed forces, and in Muslim congregations. “This program is unique in Germany and underlines the University of Tübingen’s pioneering role in the field of Islamic Theology,” says Professor Erdal Toprakyaran, the Center’s director.
Compulsory internships in each semester will mean graduates leave with a high degree of practical experience. “The new Master’s program fills a big academic gap by linking up practice with the theoretical approaches to professionalisation in various areas of social work,” says Professor Mouez Khalfaoui, the Center’s Vice-Dean of Academic Affairs. Participants in the program will study the pedagogical and legal foundations of pastoral care and social work, the theory and practice of rituals in Islam, as well as debating Islam in the context of other religions.
The program is open to those with a Bachelor’s Degree in Islamic Theology, Islamic Studies, or in related religious and social sciences - with a final grade of 2.5 or better. Admission is not bound to any particular religion or confession. Good knowledge of German, English and Arabic is required. The program will commence annually in the winter semester. Applications may be submitted until 15 July.
The Center of Islamic Theology opened at the University of Tübingen in 2011, the first of four such institutions in Germany. It is the only institute in southwest Germany to train Muslim Religious Instruction teachers for high schools. The Center also offers a Bachelor of Islamic Theology and a Master of Islamic Theology in the European Context. Its aim is to develop Islamic Theology as an academic discipline in Germany. The Center currently has 170 students.
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Mouez Khalfaoui
University of Tübingen
Center of Islamic Theology
Phone: +49 7071/29-75393
<link>mouez.khalfaoui[at]zith.uni-tuebingen.de