For over 3 decades, Islamic finance has grown and developed and contributed significantly to the development of the real economy. Secondly, enhanced integration with the global market has enabled greater trade and financial linkages. Malaysia is now positioned at the forefront of international developments with increasing connectivity between financial centres, and more cross-border Islamic financial transactions. Our sukuk market constitutes more than 50% of global sukuk outstanding for the past 16 years. Malaysia as an international Islamic finance marketplace offers an attractive and facilitative platform for foreign issuers to tap our domestic sukuk market. There have been  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  various issuances of multicurrency sukuk in US Dollar, Singapore Dollar, Chinese Renminbi and Japanese Yen. There are also stronger bilateral ties with various countries such as the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Turkey, Indonesia and Japan. These interlinkages open up greater opportunities to introduce and strategically position Islamic finance services globally while providing opportunities for meaningful participation of our local players as lead arrangers for some of the global sukuk issuances. The gains are also extended to our ancillary service providers that were able to establish greater connections with the international market. Thirdly, Malaysia's pioneering initiatives and thought leadership in Islamic finance has enabled the country to advance innovation in the Islamic finance industry. On the regulatory front, the modernisation of the regulatory framework through the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 (IFSA) provides an opportunity and space for Islamic financial institutions to offer new products and services.

This adds to the traditional pedagogy to ensure its dynamism through evolving times, while providing the right learning environment that can challenge the minds and sharpen the skills and experience of our students. One such addition is experiential learning. The adoption of experiential learning opens the window of opportunity for students to go beyond theory-based teaching. Examples include industry-wide internship, real life problem solving assignments and apprenticeship programmes for students. These methods create greater connection between classroom learning with the real world. I believe this form of experiential learning is a strong stimulant to knowledge acquisition that encourages students to develop their skills while experiencing responsible decision making in real-time. Experience in real life situations differentiates experiential learning from cognitive and behavioural learning. This provides the students with a competitive edge and increases the probability of success for graduates at entry-level into the workforce. Islamic finance industry can contribute significantly towards experiential learning. Malaysia, with its long history that includes the development of Islamic finance over three decades is content rich and ideal for case study research. There are many matters and areas that require in-depth research and solutions. The case study method is another popular learning tool that has proven to be effective in enhancing and strengthening critical appraisal and understanding among students. The case study method also provides an opportunity to discuss multiple perspectives in dealing with issues.