Christianity and the University Experience in Contemporary England

The number of students entering higher education has increased sevenfold over the last forty years, making the university experience - encompassing study, housing, employment, leisure and a range of social activities and relationships - an important stage of development for many young people. At university, students' attitudes and values, including religious ones, are developed and challenged. In a post 9/11 world, religion is an increasingly important issue on university campuses, where students' faith may be diluted, liberalised, intensified or radicalised. There have been conflicts among students about religious freedom and equal opportunities, for example. Religion may have become increasingly privatized in the UK, but it has not disappeared from undergraduate experience, and for some it remains central to their construction of personal identity. Christians are the largest student faith group, notwithstanding the growing presence of Islam, and Christian groups (including Christian Unions, university chaplaincies and Catholic and Student Christian Movement groups) have long been present on university campuses. Nonetheless, there is almost no empirical research on Christianity amongst university students in the UK. This project seeks to fill this gap, exploring the beliefs, values and social contribution of Christian undergraduate students at English universities, focusing on how faith identities are negotiated and constructed within university contexts. It is a collaborative project between researchers in departments of sociology, religious studies and theology at the Universities of Durham, Derby and Wales (Lampeter). Reflecting the programme theme Education and Socialisation, the study will address how the religious identities of university students (age 18-25) are expressed and developed within the university setting: how they are shaped by the university experience and how they contribute to and resist it. Exploring the theme Identity, Community, Welfare and Prosperity, we will examine the contribution to students' religious identities of factors preceding university, such as family and socio-economic status, and by experiences particular to it, such as the composition of the student body (including religious diversity), prominence of student-led Christian organisations, choice of degree subject and institutional ethos. The research will be carried out by means of a survey and follow-up interviews. The web-based survey will be completed by students who identify themselves as Christians in universities throughout England, and will be the first national survey of religious values amongst students in England. The interviews will be conducted in three contrasting case study universities: the University of Durham, with its traditional with long-standing Christian ethos; the University of Leeds, a 'red brick' institution with a broadly secular outlook; and the University of Derby, a 'new', post-1992 university with a multi-cultural student body and an overt emphasis upon religious pluralism. Within each institution, we will interview a range of students in order to compare beliefs and values among Roman Catholics, mainstream Protestants and evangelical Christians. This project will engage the interests of universities, student unions, chaplaincies and faith-based organizations, all concerned with the interface between religious pluralism and social cohesion. It will advance knowledge and foster dialogue about the significance of Christianity within Higher Education, and of Higher Education to religious formation among young adults.