The GCHE project also conducted research through online surveys. The survey was offered in English, Spanish and Russian. To view the survey, simply click the desired language below.
Survey in English
Survey in Spanish
Survey in Russian

 How are we defining “Christian Colleges and Universities?”

Since our project attempts to identify and list Christian colleges and universities around the world, we want to be clear about how we are defining each of the key terms.

 I. Christian
We are defining as “Christian” those universities or colleges that use their Christian vision or identity as one of the organizing paradigms (Benne 2001).  In other words, these institutions currently acknowledge and embrace a Christian or denominational confessional identity in their current mission statements and also alter aspects of their policies, governance, curriculum and ethos in light of their Christian identity (e.g., required courses in Christian theology or the Bible; the presence of Christian worship at protected times that is supported by the institution, a college-funded Christian chaplaincy, etc.).  We are identifying those denominations or groups as Christian as those that are historically understood as fitting within Protestant, Catholic or Orthodox confessions of faith. 

We are excluding universities that merely recognize a historic connection to a church, denomination or Christianity (e.g., Oxford University and Harvard University).  In addition, we are excluding colleges that are affiliated with a particular church or denomination but the identity or affiliation does not influence their mission (e.g., many of the universities listed on denominational association web sites).  We label these colleges and universities church affiliated pluralist colleges and universities.  Their primary characteristic is that they downplay Christian distinctive in order to accommodate pluralism.  Thus, while many of these colleges may mention the goal of spiritual or ethical development, this development is disconnected from the Christian identity of the school.   Admittedly, this results in some difficult borderline cases.  Nonetheless, we sought to use some clear markers when making our decision.  We asked the following questions:

1.0   Mission—Does the college acknowledge their Christian or confessional identity in the mission statement as more than a piece of history or “affiliation”?

2.0   Marketing–Is the Christian/denominational identity mentioned in the marketing to students, specifically the on-line viewbook?

3.0   Public Rhetoric–Does the president acknowledge the Christian or denominational identity in his or her web letter of introduction?

4.0   Are any Bible/Christian theology courses required?

5.0   Is Christian worship offered at protected times by the university?

6.0   Are the stated moral expectations of students different than a secular campus for specifically stated Christian reasons?

7.0   Are there any religious requirements for those in governance or on the faculty? 

If we answered no to a college regarding a majority of these questions, we did not place it on our list.

We also exclude from this list state-funded universities that exist in nations with a state church that do not identify themselves primarily or equally as Christian institutions.  For instance, state churches still exist in Denmark, England, Greece, Iceland, Malta, Norway, Scotland, and various cantons of Switzerland.  Moreover, close links with particular churches exist in many other countries.  Nonetheless, the Churches and Christian perspectives often play only a limited role in the university life of state universities in these countries.  Moreover, universities in these countries identify themselves first and foremost as national institutions and not as Christian institutions (although they may sponsor a theology faculty linked to a particular church).  

II. College or University 
With regard to our understanding of college and university, we only included institutions that are the equivalent of baccalaureate colleges, master’s colleges and universities and doctoral-granting universities.  We did not include special focus institutions, such as seminaries, teachers colleges or schools of engineering and technology or associate’s colleges.   In making this distinction, we only included in our list colleges that offer majors in at least two distinct areas of study beyond those related to church vocations (e.g., theology, Biblical studies, church music, and Christian/Church education).  We also only included universities that have at least one faculty beyond theology and/or canon law. 

We did not include colleges within universities that only refer to disciplinary units (e.g., college of arts and sciences) or residential colleges within universities that do not offer courses but largely provide accommodation or noncurricular related activities (e.g., some of the colleges listed as Colleges and Universities of the Anglican Communion).  However, we did include colleges that offer degree programs but  the degree is offered in affiliation with a larger university.  Certain colleges or university colleges in systems of education influenced by an English model of organization share this characteristic, especially in India.  These colleges offer particular courses of study similar to liberal arts colleges in North America.