Sustainable Leadership in Islamic Higher Education Transformation

This study develops a sustainable leadership model for the institutional transformation of State Islamic Higher Education Institutions (PTKIN) in Indonesia, using Universitas Islam Negeri Kiai Haji Achmad Siddiq (UIN KHAS) Jember as a longitudinal case across the STAIN, IAIN, and UIN phases. It addresses a persistent gap in higher-education sustainability research: existing frameworks clarify values and long-term orientation but offer limited explanation of the relational mechanisms through which complex public institutions secure acceptance and adaptive capacity during transformation. A qualitative phenomenological design was employed, drawing on in-depth interviews, observation, and institutional documents collected during August-October 2025. Analysis followed bracketing, horizontalization, meaning-unit construction, textural and structural description, triangulation, and member checking. Two recurrent mechanisms emerged: strategic communication, which creates shared meaning and change legitimacy, and adaptive networking, which mobilizes knowledge, regulatory access, resources, and cross-sector support. These mechanisms are integrated in the BAJA Framework. The study extends sustainable leadership theory by specifying how values, stakeholders, organizational processes, and environmental pressures are translated into sustained institutional change.