Ecological Construction of Religious Resilience among Islamic Education Students Facing Quarter-Life Crisis: A Comparative Case Study of Public and State Islamic Campus Ecologies

Comparative Case Study of PTU and PTKIN Ecological Culture

Abstract

Islamic Religious Education (IRE/PAI) students are highly vulnerable to quarter-life crises amidst
intense social expectations of piety. This study aims to analyze and compare the construction of PAI
students' religious resilience in navigating this crisis at Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI) and
UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung. A qualitative comparative case study design was applied to eight
purposively selected informants, four at each site, in their fifth and seventh semesters, through in
depth interviews, ecological observation, and document analysis, followed by intra- and cross-case
analysis. Findings reveal that the heterogeneous general university ecology of UPI fosters flexible
and independent resilience, supported by restorative physical spaces. Conversely, the religion
centred state Islamic university ecosystem of UIN offers strong structural support but carries risks
of social-moral pressure due to standardized communal piety. This study concludes that religious
resilience is not an innate attribute (given trait), but rather a systemic construction significantly
shaped by the campus ecosystem (ecological construction of religious resilience)