Dr Mariam Attia explores how the commercial ethos of modern higher education, marked by performativity and self-promotion, has fostered environments of high stress and low trust. She underscores the role of scholarship and academic development programmes in addressing such challenges, advocating insights from the Muslim intellectual tradition, particularly its discourses on intention, sincerity and truthfulness. 

In her presentation, Dr Attia reflected on the use of the term modern in the conference title, emphasising that while research-informed pedagogies are essential, it is equally important to draw upon the deeper principles embedded in one's own educational heritage.

Dr Mariam Attia called for a holistic approach to recovery that also addresses the intellectual, the cultural, the psychological, and the relational, all grounded in the spiritual and the moral. Dr Attia concluded with the central thesis of her research, namely that rebuilding higher education must begin from within.

In this landmark publication, the Founding Dean, Dr Ismail demonstrates how al-Qushayri’s approach to divine attributes, human agency, and epistemology was both rooted in tradition and consciously responsive to the intellectual and spiritual concerns of his age.

The arrival of Shaykh Hasan at The Classical Institute is nothing short of monumental. His teaching represents more than just the transmission of knowledge, it is the transmission of an entire intellectual world, embodied in a life lived in complete devotion to the pursuit of sacred learning.

A milestone in Palestine’s postgraduate development, this seminal collaboration between The Classical Institute and the Islamic University of Gaza produced the region’s first MA research cohort. Despite severe disruption, students completed rigorous training in research methodology and proposal design, and every applicant went on to receive offers from leading UK universities.