Portal detail, Ince Minareli Medrese, Konya, Turkey

Oxford is one of the largest and most active university centres world-wide for the study of the Islamic world. Arabic has been taught at Oxford for more than 400 years and, since the middle of the last century, the university has steadily expanded its provision. Today, more than fifty members of staff research and teach all aspects of Muslim societies, past and present, including anthropology, art and architecture, archaeology, development studies and economics, history, languages and literature, philosophy, politics and international relations, religion and theology.

The hub of this activity is the Faculty of Oriental Studies, based in the Oriental Institute in Pusey Lane. The faculty offers students interested in the Islamic world a variety of undergraduate degrees and a range of graduate courses.

Other centres, closely linked to Oriental Studies, specialise in the study of the Islamic world, including the Khalili Research Centre for the Art and Material Culture of the Middle East and the Middle East Centre, St Antony’s College. The Ashmolean Museum, the Bodleian Library, the Museum for the History of Science, and the Pitt-Rivers Museum, all hold important research collections of Islamic materials.

Further afield, and not always so closely linked to Oriental Studies, particular aspects of the Muslim societies are studied and taught in the School of Anthropology, Queen Elizabeth House, and the Faculty of Politics and International Relations, and the Faculty of Theology.