With the imminent opening of The World Federation’s Islamic Institute for Postgraduate Studies in Damascus, Syria, the rigorous process of validating the Master of Arts (MA) degree in Islamic Studies provided by the Institute is underway.

Accreditation is to be provided by the University of Winchester, in a process headed by Jane Erricker, Associate Dean in the Faculty of Education. Once successfully completed, students of the Institute in Damascus will be awarded University of Winchester degrees and will thus be recognised within the global academic community.

The validation process, which will continue throughout the academic year, requires that the Institute’s courses meet the University’s quality standards and regulations for Master’s Programmes. University quality procedures require the Institute hold regular programme committee meetings and send minutes to the University Faculty of Education, create an annual action plan and evaluation, and appoint an external examiner.

This process will be monitored by the Faculty of Education Quality Committee at the University of Winchester. The staff of the Institute will be required to answer questions from members of the University and relevant external members about the content and quality assurance of the programme at a validation event. Ultimately, coursework will be detailed in a validation document to be produced in accordance with the University’s handbook guidelines.

The main challenges Mrs. Erricker foresees in the validation process include establishing common goals and mutual understanding, and exhibiting patience on the constraints felt by both The World Federation and University of Winchester. All these challenges can be overcome with consistent communication, she said. In addition, Mrs. Erricker will help provide counsel through all the steps and requirements outlined above, will assist in the production of validation documents and reports, and will attend some committee meetings.

Mrs. Erricker’s areas of research interest include children’s spiritual and moral development, and citizenship education, as concepts and as a curriculum subject. She currently teaches courses in science of education on the Bachelor of Arts Primary Education and the PGCE Primary, and courses in Citizenship and Spiritual and Moral Education on the Education Studies programme. She supervises dissertation students in Education Studies, at various BA and MA levels, and also is working with two PhD students. She has published numerous works on relevant education topics, including "Reconstructing Religious, Spiritual and Moral Education" in 2000 and "Spiritual Education: Cultural, Religious and Social Differences" in 2001.