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The VTBound program was implemented at Virginia Tech to ensure international student enrollment despite travel and visa restrictions during the pandemic. The program was a partnership across academic affairs, student affairs, and admissions. Eighty-two first-year undergraduate international students from 19 countries participated in a full-time remote curriculum directed to their intended major (mostly engineering). Instruction was primarily asynchronous with synchronous office hours and recitations attentive to global time differences. Support mechanisms to maximize student success included dedicated academic advising and a customized first-year experience (FYE) course with peer mentors. The academic performance of and adherence to academic integrity standards by these students exceeded that of domestic and international first-year students on campus. Many VTBound students became engaged in co- and extracurricular programming while studying remotely. The greatest challenge was limited access to visa appointments and global travel restrictions necessitating a second remote semester for most VTBound students. Overall, the VTBound program demonstrates the value of a customized first-year transition program for international students and the potential to engage students for a successful semester of remote learning from their home Countries.

This paper aims to formulate a conceptual framework that will facilitate the actualization of maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah in product design and consumption within Islamic financial institutions (IFIs).

This paper relies on the classical and contemporary literature on maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah and Islamic finance and adopts a qualitative content analysis method and an inductive approach to outline the constituent elements that formulate the framework.

This study determines six vital constituents of maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah, namely, parameters of maqāṣid, particular objectives, appropriate means, micro provisions, level of need and legal maxims to develop a conceptual framework of actualizing maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah in Islamic finance. The framework covers the following three stages: identification of maqāṣid, operationalization of maqāṣid in product design and consumption based on maqāṣid.

This paper proposes a conceptual framework without investigating the practice of any particular industry or products. Further research would focus on formulating a practical framework based on a focus group discussion with industry experts, elaborating the parameters of maqāṣid, scrutinizing the maqāṣid available in the literature by the parameters of maqāṣid and assessing the IFIs’ products and services using the proposed framework.

This paper provides insights into the importance of maqāṣid elements and the effects of overlooking them on IFIs and customers’ product consumption. Furthermore, a major implication of the proposed framework is to learn how to use the maqāṣid approach as the baseline for designing new financial products.

The novelty of this paper lies in its pioneering attempt of harmonizing all essential maqāṣid elements and using them as constituents to formulate a comprehensive framework that actualizes maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah in the Islamic finance industry.