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The first French-Turkish Muslim campus in France will be built in Strasbourg's outskirts.
The project, fully funded by Turkey, will train France's future imams with courses and exams exclusively in Arabic. There are currently only two private institutes in France for the training of imams: one school created by Paris's Grand Mosque and one set up by the Muslim Brotherhood-linked Union of Islamic Organisations in France (UOIF). In addition to the theology faculty and its five-year course of studies, there will also be a Muslim secondary school based on the Turkish imam hatip, as well as internships. "The secondary school will be a nursery ground for recruiting future students of theology. It will become the standard for Islam in France and Europe," Libération was told by Saban Kiper, socialist councilor in the Strasbourg municipality. There will be at least six hours per week of courses on religion. Though the campus is still under construction, several different structures were purchased in 2010 and are currently undergoing renovation. One room will be set aside for prayer.