The Department of Islamic Religious Studies is the parent and oldest department of the Faculty of Islamic Pedagogy in Zenica.

Until the academic year 2005/06. year, for twelve long years, the Department of Islamic Religious Studies was the only department of the Faculty of Islamic Pedagogy in Zenica, and its graduates received the academic title and professional title of teacher of Islamic Religious Studies.

The curriculum is periodically innovated and harmonized with new pedagogical experiences and scientific achievements, all with the aim of responding to two fundamental needs:

• the need to acquire the necessary pedagogical knowledge and the necessary didactic-methodical skills of students and

• the need for expanded knowledge of Islam in the context of religious education requirements, as a regular school subject.

It was sought that the part of the curriculum of the Islamic Pedagogical Academy that refers to religious subjects be placed in a pedagogical context, in order to achieve the necessary didactic-methodical intentionality, respond to the goals of the school and the pedagogical standards of its teaching, and that its general education, linguistic and pedagogical-psychological part be, at least elementary, based on the principles of Islamic education and imbued with the spirit of its ethos.

Three-year study at the Department of Islamic Religious Education Following the modern standards of teacher education established in the course of the reform of the higher education system in Bosnia and Herzegovina and aiming towards obtaining the assumptions of inclusion in the ECTS study system, the Faculty of Islamic Pedagogy in Zenica initiated a programmed, expertly supervised process of reforming studies which it implies the extension of the duration of studies to three years, the introduction of the ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) study system, as well as the introduction of new programs that will provide better education for teachers of Islamic religious studies. In the academic year 2004/05. In 2008, the first generation of full-time students was enrolled under the newly transformed three-year study program and the first generation of part-time students in the third year of study. The third year was enrolled by graduates of a two-year study at the Academy under a special differential program.

Reformed studies include:

• obtaining a diploma within the framework of undergraduate studies according to the ECTS system,

• renewed programs of theological, pedagogical, psychological, didactic, methodical education, structurally corresponding to the study at the Faculty of Islamic Sciences in Sarajevo, i.e. teaching faculties in Bosnia and Herzegovina,

• new programs through optional courses, e.g. Integrative pedagogy that prepares the professor of Islamic religious education for educational work in the classroom according to the principles of integration, inclusion of children with special developmental needs,

• new programs for the development of methodologies of certain teaching disciplines, which are integrated through the methodology of Islamic religious education,

• renewed training programs for researching phenomena in upbringing and education (theoretical-practical methodological training),

• new programs for developing a "learning culture" (with the use of new working methods),

• new programs for developing communication skills, according to the needs of a reformed school that seeks the art of building a paradigm of teamwork,

• new programs of continuous, planned training of Islamic teachers

religious studies (registration determined by the rules of the Academy - Center for Pedagogical Management) i

• a new program of interdisciplinary penetration of reference sciences for education in faith (theology, humanities...), which will have its materialization through the inventiveness and realization of teaching subjects and express student engagement during studies.

Organization and duration of studies

The study lasts six semesters, and each semester lasts fifteen weeks. Exams are organized in three exam periods: January-February, June-July and September, and continuous monitoring of students' progress is applied in accordance with the ECTS system (essays, research projects, presentations, seminars...). After completing the studies, the student obtains a diploma in which it will be stated that he has obtained the academic title and the professional title of professor of Islamic religious studies.

Academic year 2008/09. In 2008, the Department of Islamic Religious Studies launched a master's degree program, which is called the II cycle in the Bologna process. Upon completion of the master's studies at the Department of Islamic Religious Studies of the Islamic Pedagogical Faculty of the University of Zenica, the student acquires the academic title and professional title of Master of Religious Education, and the first master's degree at this Department was defended in November 2012. At the Department of Religious Studies, an elaboration was made for the III cycle (doctoral studies), which will begin, God willing, in the 2013/14 school year. year. Graduates of that cycle acquire the academic title and scientific title of doctor of religious pedagogy. Graduates of the Department of Islamic Religious Studies and their mission In its twenty years of existence, 1,814 students enrolled in the Department of Islamic Religious Studies. So far (December 2012), a total of 705 students have graduated, of which 403 have obtained the title of teacher of Islamic religious studies, and 302 the title of professor of Islamic religious studies. In the second cycle, 31 students enrolled in the first generation (2009), and 20 students in the second generation (2011). Thanks, first of all, to the grace of Allah Almighty, and then to the ideas, perseverance and dedicated work of all those who were involved in the establishment and realization of the projects of the Department of Islamic Religious Studies, this Department, during twenty years of work and development, has grown into a modern educational study which, despite many difficulties, he has behind him solid results that can be proud of, first of all, the Islamic community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as the founder of the Islamic Pedagogical Faculty, but also our society as a whole. The Department of Islamic Religious Education educates staff who teach Islamic religious education in numerous primary and secondary schools in our homeland, and more widely, in the countries of the region, even in the Republic of Austria.

Graduates of the Department of Islamic Religious Education, and there are more than seven hundred of them, are successfully working and active in our society today, either as teachers, educators or in other generally useful jobs. We believe that it is of inestimable value when a community or society receives teaching staff who, using modern pedagogical and didactic-methodical achievements, raise young generations in the spirit of the highest values, to be truthful, honest, honest, hard-working, to appreciate and respect their parents, to respect the elderly, to have a humane attitude towards their surroundings, to stay away from alcohol, drugs, immorality, various extremism and numerous other evils brought about by the modern way of life. The Department of Islamic Religious Education educates and educates teachers and professors of such orientation and competence. Today, they faithfully and, we hope, successfully transmit the knowledge and values acquired at the Department of Islamic Religious Studies to our children and youth. Because of all this, we expect that, in return, the Islamic community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as our society as a whole, will provide even greater support to the Faculty of Islamic Pedagogy in Zenica, where this Department has existed for twenty years.