Universities increasingly face demands to connect academic learning with social responsibility, cultural diversity, and community transformation. This study examines how Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD), implemented through a Participatory Action Research (PAR) cycle, supported the internalization of Wawasan Nusantara among university students in North Sumatra. The study involved 35 participants drawn from students, community representatives, and local facilitators who joined community-based learning activities from January to October 2025. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, participant observation, reflective field notes, and program documentation. The researchers analyzed the data thematically through familiarization, coding, theme development, and collaborative interpretation. The findings identify three connected mechanisms. First, asset mapping encouraged students to recognize cultural traditions, religious and educational institutions, local leadership, social networks, and small-scale economic activities as community strengths. Second, collaborative planning and action shifted students from a service-delivery orientation toward shared responsibility and reciprocal learning. Third, direct engagement with social, cultural, and religious diversity translated Wawasan Nusantara from an abstract geopolitical concept into an inclusive civic ethic grounded in tolerance, solidarity, democratic participation, and social justice. The study also identifies persistent constraints, including limited critical reflection, weak research habits, and a gap between academic discourse and sustained community intervention. The article argues that ABCD-based learning can help universities cultivate inclusive nationalism when institutions integrate asset mapping, structured reflection, community participation, and long-term partnership into the curriculum. The findings remain context-specific and do not establish long-term behavioral change.
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