TITLE:
The Importance of Supporting Students’ Sense of Meaning and Purpose as Part of Supporting the “Whole Student”
AUTHORS:
Jacques van der Meer, Richard Egan, Hugh Morrison Keryn Pratt
KEYWORDS:
Spirituality, Meaning, Purpose, Wellbeing, “Whole Student”
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.11 No.1,
January
31,
2023
ABSTRACT: The data that informed
this paper was from a pilot project in a New Zealand university exploring
first-year students’ thoughts and perceptions related to different aspects of
spirituality (Wright, 2019). This project drew in
particular on research into student spirituality conducted by the Higher
Education Research Institute (HERI) at the University of California, Los
Angeles (UCLA) among more than 100,000 college students in the USA between 2004
and 2007. The Otago project employed a survey instrument based on the HERI one,
modified in a minor way (some linguistic changes to suit the NZ context). In
addition to the HERI format, a number of open-ended questions were added to the
survey to add some richness and depth to the quantitative questions. This paper will address
the question of what the survey respondents’ perceptions and experiences were
with particular regard to the interests in their sense of meaning and purpose
in life. Also, the question will be addressed of what universities could do to
focus more on the “whole student”, especially during the first year and enhance
their holistic sense of wellbeing.