How quality assurance actors interpret and enact global standards in Islamic higher education

This study examines how quality assurance actors in Islamic higher education institutions interpret and enact global quality standards within their everyday managerial practices. Drawing on an interpretive qualitative approach, the study employs interpretative phenomenological analysis to explore the lived experiences of 14 quality assurance actors across four Islamic universities in East Java, Indonesia. The findings show that global standards such as ISO 9001 and ISO 21001 are not applied as neutral or self-executing instruments but are continuously interpreted, negotiated, and adapted in relation to institutional values, professional roles, and organizational constraints. Quality assurance practices are shaped by sensemaking processes through which actors align global quality frameworks with Islamic values, academic traditions, and local governance structures. The study highlights the central role of quality assurance actors as interpretive intermediaries who translate global standards into contextually meaningful and operationally sustainable practices. By foregrounding actors’ interpretive work, this study contributes an actor-centered perspective to quality assurance scholarship and offers insights into the implementation of global quality standards in value-based and non-Western higher education contexts.