Press Release

For the first time in Jordan, a pioneering R&D initiative at a university is announced. The Jordan-based Philadelphia University and the Saudi-based TARIIC are planning to launch a Center of Excellence and Scientific Triangle with CEB, the provider of financial software solutions, and Palma, the strategic management and process specialist, as strong partners.

Amman / Jordan, January 12, 2005
Yesterday, and during the first international conference on Takaful held at the Dead Sea, Philadelphia University (Jordan) and Rusd Group (Saudi Arabia) joined hands together with CEB (Jordan) and Palma (Jordan) to found in Jordan the Center of Excellence for Takaful (Islamic Insurance) and Islamic banking which will address the Islamic Insurance and banking industries in the Arab, Islamic, and global markets. The visionary idea which was incepted by the Rusd Group and TARIIC founder and chairman, Dr. Saleh Malaikah, a renowned leader in the field of Islamic financial services, is considered to be the first of its kind to be launched in a Jordanian university.
Within this Center of Excellence research and development activities on Islamic insurance business models and technologies will take place. Students and staff members from the university will be involved in the R&D activities and will organize conferences and workshops to educate the insurance community on their findings.
The center will ensure that state-of-the-art Takaful and insurance models are an integral part of student education at Philadelphia, thus ensuring its graduates are best qualified for the insurance business world. Students and researchers will be able to use the world's best business process management tools from Palma/ IDS Scheer in developing and enhancing their business models, as well as have access to leading insurance management systems and applications from CEB.
A similar model was initiated at Leipzig University in Germany in association with a number of insurance, consulting, and technology companies. The partners are hoping to benefit from the Leipzig model and build on it to create a model of best practice in Islamic insurance.

Philadelphia University (Jordan) – The university has been established to actively participate in comprehensive national and regional development through quality education. It strengthens its academic programs through academic relations with similar organizations. The commitment of the University in this direction is evidenced by setting up a special International Office within the University higher management system and setting up an office for accreditation and quality assurance. The University values scholarship and research and as such provides 5% of the University budget for research activities.
The University has been recognized as an active member of the Avicenna Virtual Campus under the auspices of UNESCO and European Union, the International Association of Universities (IAU), the Arab European University Association (AEUA), the Association of Arab Universities, and the Association of Islamic Universities.
The University who attained the highest ranking by the Quality Assurance Agency in the UK (QAA), is also a certified center for Cisco, Microsoft, and ICDL IT training.

TARIIC (Takaful and Re-Takaful Int'l Investment Corporation) (Bahrain and Saudi Arabia) – a market leader in Islamic financial services and solutions in the areas of insurance management (Takaful) and investment banking, one of the top Islamic financial services groups in the Islamic world with operations extending from Malaysia to Algeria. The Group has the largest network of Islamic insurance companies (Takaful) and re-insurance (Re-Takaful).

CEB and Palma (Jordan) –regional IT and business consulting firms giving expert advice in the disciplines of Business Process Management and related software solutions. CEB and Palma provide various solutions and services covering strategy, business processes, and information technology. Palma is the IDS Scheer strategic partner for Arab countries and Iran, and its services are based on the ARIS tools and methodologies. Palma is based in Amman – Jordan and has offices in Dubai and Khartoum.