Freedom to learn: An education policy applied in Indonesia and its potential benefits as perceived by Islamic education students

This study establishes a model for students-perceived merits of the policy of freedom to learn applied in Indonesia. The main purpose of this study is to construct the number of perceptions of Islamic students and create factors taking into account the variation in a set of indicators. A quantitative method was designed in this study to process data that were collected using a questionnaire. The sample consisted of 273 participants in Islamic higher education institutions. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was employed to model and present results of data. The results find that Islamic students-perceived merits on the policy of freedom to learn applied in their campus create applicable eleven indicators that are constructed into the following three factors consisting of timeliness, comparability and persistence. This finding discloses that the educational policy through freedom benefits students of Islamic education in the context of timeliness, comparability and persistence. This study is intended to be addressed to policymakers and regulators, offering evidence-based recommendations that can inform the development and refinement of policies in the higher education sector. In this regard, the study serves as constructive feedback on the existing policies in Indonesia with the potential to guide future policy adjustments and improvements to better meet the needs and expectations of education.