Negotiating Religious Moderation in Islamic Higher Education through Curriculum Policy and Student Religious Identity

Abstract

This study aims to explore how religious moderation is negotiated in Islamic higher education through curriculum policy and student religious identity. The study addresses the gap between institutional efforts to mainstream religious moderation and students’ lived experiences in interpreting moderation values. Using a qualitative case study design, the research was conducted at a State Islamic Higher Education Institution in Indonesia. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, limited participant observation, and document analysis involving students, lecturers, curriculum managers, academic leaders, and student organization representatives selected through purposive and snowball sampling. The data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. The findings reveal four main themes: curriculum policy as an institutional frame of religious moderation, lecturer mediation in translating moderation values, student religious identity negotiation, and the tension between formal curriculum and lived religious practice. The study shows that religious moderation is not simply transmitted through curriculum documents or campus programs. Students actively interpret, accept, question, and reshape moderation values through classroom encounters, peer interaction, organizational affiliation, and personal religious commitment. This study contributes to the understanding of religious moderation as an identity negotiation process in Islamic higher education. The findings imply that curriculum policy should be supported by dialogical pedagogy, lecturer capacity building, reflective mentoring, and inclusive campus culture. Future research should compare different institutional contexts and examine the role of digital religious discourse in shaping student responses to religious moderation.