At present, with over 600 Islamic financial institutions in the world and assets estimated at over 2 trillion dollars, the Islamic financial market constitutes an attractive area of investment for bankers and economic operators. At the same time, it represents a fascinating topic of research for academics and students, involving a variety of interrelated issues, from comparative economics and law to risk management, and interest towards alternative techniques of financial intermediation in the global economy.

Pursuing a better understanding of this peculiar phenomenon,
- the Centre for Economic and International Studies - CEIS;
- MESCI - Master in Development Economics and International Cooperation;
- and the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence
of the University of Rome Tor Vergata
are pleased to announce the launch of the first edition of the
SUMMER SCHOOL “ISLAMIC FINANCE IN EUROPE. TOOLS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PLURAL FINANCIAL SYSTEM”

to be held in Rome, on 30th June - 1st July 2011.

The fundamental aim of the Summer School is to provide participants with proper tools to understand the evolution of the Islamic financial market both from an economic and legal standpoints, according to a multidisciplinary approach. At the same time, Islamic Finance will be inserted in the broader recipient of contemporary globalization, highlighting:

- on the one side, a constant process of hybridization of economic and legal structures, as a result of the ‘meeting’ of the Western world with foreign local cultures - and, on the other side, the attempt to direct this cultural hybridization towards the needs of a changing world, where developed economies, as well as developing countries, are facing new challenges.

The Summer School is precisely addressed to interpret Islamic Finance in the context of an emergent plural financial system at a global stage, where new ethical demands affect the request for a renovated right economic development.