The Importance of Supporting Students’ Sense of Meaning and Purpose as Part of Supporting the “Whole Student”

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.