How can universities support students’ interfaith learning? Findings from a longitudinal survey of students in the UK

Across the globe, on-campus religious diversity generates opportunities for learning and growth. But how can universities prepare students to learn about and engage positively with people with different religions and beliefs from their own? Put another way, how can universities best support students’ interfaith learning? This article explores how the university environment, or ‘campus climate’, influences one measure of interfaith learning, students’ positive engagement with religion and worldview difference (what we call ‘pluralism’). The data are drawn from a longitudinal survey of 1,000 university students in the United Kingdom (UK), surveyed twice during their studies, in 2021 and 2022. Statistical analysis reveals that increases in pluralism are shaped by the perception of a religiously diverse campus, safe spaces for spiritual expression, and provocative encounters which challenge students’ assumptions about their own, and others’, worldviews. Meanwhile, the analysis found that students who experience religion or worldview-related insensitivity or coercion at university are more likely to decline in their pluralism. Implications for higher education institutions are discussed.