Catholic Higher Education Globally: Enrollment Trends, Current Pressures, Student Choice, and the Potential of Service Learning

Abstract

Globally, Catholic universities operate in an increasingly competitive market. They tend to have a strong academic reputation in many countries and their graduates tend to do well professionally. One explanation for this success could be that many universities are selective: they may attract motivated students. In addition, it is sometimes suggested that the values emphasized in Catholic education may also play a role, including for the choice of students to attend a particular university. Whether values and the Catholic faith matter for students, or rather how much they matter, is important for the future of Catholic universities in a context of rising competition as well as pluralism, including in terms of the views held by students. After a review of broad trends in enrollment in Catholic higher education globally and regionally over the last four decades, and a discussion of some of the increasing competitive pressures Catholic (and other) universities are confronted with, this article explores some of the factors that may lead students to enroll in Catholic higher education institutions. Values and faith matter, but (not surprisingly) other factors matter more. The paper also discusses the possibility for Catholic universities to invest in service learning as an opportunity to strengthen their Catholic identity in a way that respects pluralism in the student body.

Catholic Higher Education in the United States: Exploring the Decision to Enroll from a Student’s (or a Student Advisor’s) Point of View

“…Data from the CIRP Freshman Survey can be used to compare students' priorities depending on the type of schools they choose to attend. Those data were mentioned in Wodon (2022), but here the focus is on a comparison between responses for students in Catholic colleges and the sample as a whole. As shown in Table 2 and Figure 3 for the latest available CIRP survey (data for 2019), the main reasons cited for attending Catholic colleges relate to academic reputation (71.8%); job prospects (67.3%); financial assistance (65.5%); reputation of the intended major (59.0%); campus visits (54.7%); social and extracurricular activities (52.4%); college size (49.7%); and finally cost (48.7%).…”

“…As discussed in Wodon (2022), Karram (2011) notes that in Africa, much of the growth in private higher education can be attributed to religious institutions. Yet this is from a very low base, so that Africa is not expected to account for a large share of students enrolled in religious institutions of higher learning globally for some time.…”

“…According to data from the Church, in 2020, Catholic pre-primary, primary, and secondary schools enrolled 61.4 million students globally (Secretariat of State [of the Vatican] 2022). In addition, Catholic institutions of higher education enroll 6.6 million students (on global trends in Catholic higher education, see Wodon (2020Wodon ( , 2022). For basic education, enrollment in Catholic schools has been growing especially rapidly in Africa.…”