Posted by Alumni from The Conversation
November 18, 2025
This year's new university students are settling into life on campuses often notable for their diversity ' and that includes in religion. Over 33,000 Buddhist students started university in the UK in 2023-24, for instance, alongside 769,220 Christian and 37,520 Sikh students. We surveyed 1,000 students twice, one year apart. We wanted to investigate how the university environment, or campus climate, influences how students engage with other religions and worldviews. To assess this we asked students how far they agreed with statements such as 'there are people of other faiths or beliefs whom I admire', 'I try to build relationships with people who hold religious or non-religious beliefs that I disagree with', and 'my faith or beliefs are strengthened by relationships with those of diverse religious and non-religious backgrounds'. First, students feel more positive about difference when they see a diversity of worldviews around them. When students think of their campus as a place... learn more