Supporting Faith and Belief Student Societies

How well do you support your student faith and belief groups and societies? Did you know that these groups and societies help combat student isolation and poor mental health? Would new guidance help?

‘Supporting Faith and Belief Student Societies’ is a new guidance booklet advising organisations on how to support their faith and belief societies better.

The new guidance draws on findings from research published in a report in 2019  ‘Faith and Belief on Campus: Division and Cohesion’. This research found that faith and belief societies make an important contribution to campus life – not only by providing spaces for students to practice or learn about their religion or belief, but also by acting as hubs for charity work, and by supporting students pastorally, combatting loneliness and poor mental health.

The guidance shows students and staff how to:

1) Map your provision of faith and belief societies

2) Equip your staff in religious literacy

3) Support your societies

4) Connect your societies

5) Generate new societies

It also contains advice on handling freedom of speech issues and summarises the legal framework for this.

You can download the guidance here

You can download the 2019 research report here