Reconfiguring Islamic Higher Education: A Multiple Case Study of Curricular Reform in Kerala, India

Abstract

This study examines curriculum reform in traditional Sunni Islamic higher education in Kerala, India, focusing on two major institutions, Jamia Madeenathunnoor and Darul Huda Islamic University. Using a qualitative multiple case study, the research draws on 22 semi-structured interviews with institutional leaders, lecturers, and students across both institutions, along with participant observation and analysis of curricular documents. The findings show that several related factors shaped reform. Educational dualism and community aspirations for wider career pathways increased demand for language skills and university-linked subjects. This, in turn, expanded the ulama's expected social role and was intensified by healthy competition between Sunni institutional streams in Kerala. Reform was introduced gradually through renewed Arabic pedagogy, the inclusion of English, coordination with university subjects, faculty professionalization, and structured co-curricular training. While these changes improved graduate mobility and public recognition, they also created tensions around curriculum overload and maintaining classical depth alongside modern subjects. The study offers an empirically grounded framework showing how internal factors interact to produce gradual reform, with analytical transferability to other faith-based higher education contexts in transition. It presents a Kerala experience where reform appears as a selective reorganization of tradition rather than a break from it.