In 2011, it was upgraded into an institute that interactively combines research, teaching, and training in one location. KAU, established in 1967, is a public university covering a wide range of subjects in 24 different faculties. About 75 of its teaching programs are internationally accredited. In 2014, KAU ranked as the best university in Saudi Arabia and the 49th in Asia by Times Ranking. The IEI mission is to produce knowledge and design programs for researchers and experts in the field of Islamic economics, and to observe and accommodate contemporary needs of the society. Researchers are the main source of IEI successes, since its inception. IEI is not just limited to the in-house full-time researchers; it has been building a wide network of researchers worldwide specialized in different topics in the field of Islamic economics. One of the IEI researchers received the King Faisal International Prize in 1982. IEI itself and four of its researchers have been awarded the Islamic Development Bank Prize in Islamic economics. In addition, one of the current researchers at IEI is a laureate of the King Faisal International Prize. IEI has been a research-based institution for almost four decades. At the same time, it has been involved in designing teaching curricula for different courses in the field of Islamic economics since 1985. In 2013, IEI launched its first two-year degree in Islamic Finance, namely the Executive MA in Islamic Finance. Training is the third pillar for IEI. It should play an important role by bridging the gap between research and teaching by encouraging real-life case studies. Four different international training programs have been launched since 2012 and offered in Jeddah for MA students and for executives from Europe and other parts of the world. Since 1983, IEI has published the first journal in the field of Islamic economics,