The article explores possibilities of collaboration between Muslim providers of traditional education ("dar al-ulums") and HE/FE institutions in close geographical proximity in the North West England. It reports the outcomes of a project carried out in 2011/2012 influenced by the findings of the Makadam/Scott-Baumann report in 2010, in which it was stated that cross fertilisation of pedagogical methodologies in the "dar al-ulums" is already achieving a unique synthesis drawing upon skills of memory and cognition. The project had a dual intention to (1) see through to completion a partnership in which a BA in Islamic Education would be created for advanced "dar al-ulum" students and (2) to focus on the relevance and pedagogical styles of the "dars-i nizami" curriculum taught in the "dar al-ulums" and therefore add to scholarly and political debates on the madrasa/"dar al-ulum" education which has already generated a body of literature. The paper will focus on the latter.