Published on: 17/11/2009

The Cathedrals Group, formerly the Council of Church Universities and Colleges, welcomed the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, as guest speaker for its inaugural Lord Dearing Memorial Lecture.

The lecture series, named after the group’s former president, is designed to provide a platform for discussion around the role of religion and spirituality in today’s higher education (HE) landscape.

The Archbishop’s speech, entitled 'No place for God? Religious faith in higher education today', follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the group's 15 members. This memorandum signals both the rebrand and ambitions for a higher profile for the group, who share a commitment to exploring and recognising the positive role that religion and spirituality has to play in the sector and in society. 

Pamela Taylor, Principal of Newman University College Birmingham and Chair of the Cathedrals Group, said: “Although many would argue we live in an increasingly secular age, the spiritual and personal development of people has never been more important. 

“We live in an increasingly diverse, multi faith society so encouraging dialogue and understanding between people and between different groups, religious or secular, is vital.

“At the same time, students are being actively encouraged to take a career-led, consumer-like approach to university education. While understandable, this approach often means that personal and spiritual development is overlooked – a move that fails to equip people with the frameworks, values and reference points they will need to navigate the personal, professional and moral challenges they will face throughout their adult lives.

“While the Cathedrals Group’s members have all been founded on Christian principles, our students come from a range of faith backgrounds. We have to find a framework for everyone to be personally transformed in their own way. There is clearly a positive role for religion and faith to play in the HE sector and we are committed to exploring how this can best be managed in today’s environment. Faith is an important component of life for millions of people including many of our students.”

The Cathedrals Group comprises 15 church universities and university colleges in England and Wales that were founded by the Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church or the Methodist Church. Between them, these HE institutions serve almost 100,000 students. Each of the institutions has programmes in Theology and/ or Religious Studies and most offer Religious Education programmes for trainee and practising school teachers. Crucially, these 15 institutions are successful, broad based providers of a university education which is based on a strong community informed by Christian values, knowledge of the individual student, and a commitment to excellence in learning, teaching and research.