What the Asian Rectors at AIUA 2026 Really Think About the Future of Islamic Higher Education
JAKARTA, UIN Online News – Foreign rectors and executive educational leaders from across the Asian continent gathered at the 15th Asian Islamic Universities Association (AIUA) International Assembly to demand immediate structural integration across cross-border campuses. Attending the summit under the blueprint “Transforming Islamic Higher Education for Advancing Global Peace, Resilience, and Inclusive Development,” these international delegates delivered critical insights addressing student employability and the severe ethical threats posed by generative artificial intelligence.
Held dynamically in Jakarta, Indonesia, from June 23–25, 2026, the three-day summit successfully brought together the Vice Chancellor of Universiti Sultanah Azlan Shah (USAS) Malaysia, Professor Datuk Dr. Wan Sabri Bin Wan Yusof; the Director of Research and Internationalization representing Universiti Islam Sultan Sharif Ali (UNISSA) Brunei Darussalam, Dr. Haji Hambali bin Haji Awang Jaili; and the Dean of the Faculty of Education representing Yala Rajabhat University Thailand, Assistant Professor Dr. Muhammad Tolan Kaemah.
Interviewed by UIN Online News, USAS Vice Chancellor Professor Wan Sabri Bin Wan Yusof emphasized that individual universities can no longer survive the modern economic landscape by operating in isolation. He urged the immediate repositioning of Islamic studies through a unified transnational bloc.
"With nearly 90 universities locked into this association, we form a massive, powerful intellectual coalition that cannot be ignored by global education boards," Professor Wan Sabri explained. "Imagine the immense impact if a student from UIN Jakarta can organically spend different academic years embedded in sister campuses across multiple Asian nations. That depth of cross-border exposure completely redefines graduate employability on the global stage."
Representing the state University of Brunei Darussalam (UNISSA), Dr. Haji Hambali bin Haji Awang Jaili shifted the analytical focus toward the dangerous pedagogical shifts triggered by modern automation and hyper-digitalization. He warned that unregulated generative software is hollowing out student critical thinking.
“Most students are proudly using artificial intelligence to bypass academic rigor, utilizing it to manufacture coursework and assignments effortlessly,” Dr. Hambali warned in English. “By doing so, they are attempting to neglect the absolute importance of absorbing real, empirical knowledge from human academicians. Through this conference, we are actively sharing frameworks to ensure our teaching methodologies remain firmly aligned with our institutional philosophy and the moral teachings of the Quran and Sunnah.”
The high-level conference proved so strategically persuasive that non-member institutions announced their immediate integration into the bloc. Assistant Professor Dr. Muhammad Tolan Kaemah from Thailand’s Yala Rajabhat University announced that his institution would officially tender its membership application during the legislative assembly.
“I hold a profound conviction that the AIUA can systematically drive Islamic higher education forward while delivering massive structural contributions to the Muslim Ummah across ASEAN nations,” Dr. Kaemah stated.
He concluded by linking the future of pedagogical engineering with ancient theological virtues, quoting the core Quranic mandate of societal justice. “Being truly educated requires a foundation built strictly upon the virtue of ethics. I refer directly to the Quranic directive of ‘Amr bil-ma'ruf wa nahi 'anil-munkar’ by enjoining what is good and forbidding what is wrong. To act as a modern educator, we must operate strictly on the basis of that divine ethical anchor,” Kaemah concluded.
(Meisa/Zaenal/Arifin/Photo: Azka Raysa)