I found catholic scholars to be highly qualified and systematic and perhaps even more advanced and bold in their treatment of the New Testament. Ishraq Khavari's points regarding the tahrif of the Quran as made in Qamus Iqan remains to this day to most cohesive and unifying view of the subject in and outside academia. I would like to testify to this based on a study that I did in the graduate school here at University of Virginia on the topic of alterations in the Quran. The world of academic scholarship is a very harsh environment. Survival is not based on truth, rather based on publications.
Funding is another major issue.
Who will pay for the long and super-long periods of training required to finish a doctrate program. Will an Islamic country sponsoring a student in Islamic studies accept a merely unbiased dissertation on the Babi or Baha'i Faith. Dear friends I assure you that this list will go on for a long time if you want it to. A few months ago another scholar gave a talk on female infanticide and the question of dowry in India. What was very obvious to me and to her audience was her lack of remorse and compassion for the infants.