A Case Study of Waqf Fund in Tertiary Education

Abstract

Rise in cost for higher education have been causing less privilege and self-financed students who wanted to further their studies in tertiary education unable to do so due to the less affordability and lack of availability of financial assistance. However, waqf is the most effective ways that have been used to solve the problem. This study aims to examine how universities established their own waqf or endowment fund to help students that are in dire need of financial assistance and at the same time becomes an alternate supply of funds to finance academic activities in university. The study also explained the challenges facing by universities’ waqf bodies. For that, two public universities have been chosen in this study i.e., Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). This research uses a qualitative approach by applying interviews and library research in the process of collecting data. The finding has shown that waqf undoubtedly offers a great benefit in ensuring the opportunity and access to education at both universities – IIUM and UTM. The challenge, however, is that it requires the continuous societal support in order for it to sustain its operation.