Tri-Center Educational Collaboration Model of School, Higher Education, and Pesantren in Strengthening Students' Religious Character

Abstract

This study is motivated by the increasingly complex challenges of fostering students' religious character in the digital era, globalization, and rapid social change, while Islamic Religious Education (IRE) in schools has not yet fully succeeded in internalizing religious values optimally. The study aims to analyze a tri-center educational collaboration model involving schools, universities, and pesantren in strengthening students' religious character. This research employs a qualitative approach with a library research method. Data were collected from books, scientific journal articles, and relevant educational policy documents, then analyzed using content analysis. The findings indicate that collaboration among the three institutions can build a complementary educational ecosystem: schools’ function as centers of formal learning and character habituation, universities as centers of knowledge development, research, and instructional innovation, and pesantren as centers of spiritual formation, moral education, and exemplary conduct. This synergy produces a more comprehensive, contextual, and sustainable IRE learning model that is effective in shaping students who are faithful, morally upright, moderate, and

prepared to face the challenges of the twenty-first century.