The Religious Literacy Leadership Programme is a partnership between the Faiths & Civil Society Unit at Goldsmiths, University of London and the Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme at the University of Cambridge. It is funded by HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England).

Why look at faith?

Faith is no more or less important an identity than any other. But there are factors which make faith hard to explore: it is often viewed with suspicion or distaste; there is a widespread public awareness of religion yet with a limited public vocabulary; and it has become more prominent as a line of debate and anxiety in recent years. This programme draws on primary research, literature, policy expertise, and practical resources to develop strategic leadership in response.

It is to the surprise of many, there is great public interest in faith at the start of the 21st century, driven by three main factors:

• The contribution of faiths to welfare and social action;
• The links identified between faiths, social capital, and social exclusion;
• People of faith have shown themselves to be ‘active citizens’ as volunteers, and as partners with leaders, entrepreneurs and policy-makers.

A multi-faith society presents important challenges for understanding differences within and between faith traditions and for working beyond religious traditions with wider society to maximum effect. This requires us all to be ‘literate’ about the faiths we encounter.

Religious Literacy Leadership in Higher Education Programme

The Religious Literacy Leadership Programme aims to assist Higher Education leaders to develop outlooks and strategies that engage positively with faith, promoting universities as places that can lead and shape informed responses to faith in wider society. It will also focus on the experiences of staff and students from different religious backgrounds and foster good campus relations through improved engagement within, and between, different faiths and with others.

Recognising the range of circumstances, settings and responses by university leaders to faith on their campuses, the programme provides opportunities by way of events and materials, for Vice Chancellors and other senior participants to exchange and develop their understandings critically, as a basis for religious literacy strategies.

The programme is supported by ten Vice Chancellor Champions, drawing on their varying experiences and responses to faith. Click here for more information about Religious Literacy Leadership Champions. In supporting approaches to leadership for religious literacy, the programme aims to balance the policy demands to which Vice Chancellors are asked to respond with cultural and intellectual questions which underpin the very place of universities in society. The programme identifies the places that these questions ‘bite’ in the everyday reality of running HEIs, including in registries, admissions departments, student services, and in teaching and learning.

A central question is the extent to which universities should reflect or challenge a public role for faith in what is often assumed to be a largely secular society. How universities lead on the status, role and shape of faith in public spaces will be highly influential to how it unfolds in wider society – and how it develops under the future leadership of today’s graduates and staff.

Taking the Programme Forward

The Religious Literacy Leadership Programme is subject to continuous reflection and evaluation. Learning will continue to inform the programme and evaluative reports will be available to leaders across the sector to inform a wider appreciation and understanding of the issues and the potential for further development. These will be published both as policy documents and in academic formats in due course.