St Mary’s University, in Twickenham, is one of England’s four Catholic higher education institutions and was founded in 1850 by a precursor of the CES.

Today St Mary’s welcomes 6,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students, including 800 from abroad, across a range of disciplines. It’s also rated as fifth in the country for teaching quality, and in the top ten for overall student experience by national university guides.

Professor Anthony McClaran was appointed Vice-Chancellor in 2020 after serving in higher education leadership roles including as Chief Executive of UCAS; Australia’s Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency; the UK’s Quality Assurance Agency; and Pro-Chancellor of the University of Gloucestershire.

In 2021 he was appointed by Pope Francis to AVEPRO, the Holy See’s quality assurance agency for the awarding of ecclesiastical degrees.

As Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of St Mary’s, Professor McClaran is answerable to its Board of Governors and is responsible for leadership, strategic direction and the overall coordination of the university to achieve its aims. Part of the role is being its external face, for partners, stakeholders, members of the Church, and more.

He said: “The day-to-day description is incredible variety; it might be a letter from a parent or a message from an alumnus, or we recently hosted the Bishop of Oslo, and the Ukrainian Catholic Bishop - just enormous variety, which is part of the fascination of the job.”

Making connections

Belonging to the broad Catholic family is important for the small but growing Catholic university sector in this country, helping to support international partnerships in research, conferences and student placements. St Mary’s is a member of the International Federation of Catholic Universities, the US-based Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, and the Federation of European Catholic Universities.

Professor McClaran said: “It's encouraging - you get a strong sense of the universal nature of the Church and can learn lessons from the experiences of colleagues in very different settings. For instance, I attended a development meeting for leaders of Catholic universities with colleagues from South America, Africa, North America, other parts of Europe, and Europeans were in the minority.

“Exposure to the richness and diversity of the Catholic world is really helpful, it gives you a confidence in your mission and in what you're trying to achieve in terms of Catholic higher education.

“We want to be a leading Catholic university, for London and the world, as we're very conscious that being in London we’re in a global city and that has huge benefits in terms of attracting international students. Our Catholic identity is very important as an inclusive identity; we see it as a point of connection with the world not a point of separation.”

Ancient and modern

Despite appearing a relatively new phenomenon, Catholic universities in England stretch back to the mediaeval era, when most of them were established by the papacy or religious orders. Professor McClaran acknowledges the deep history of Catholic education, with the earliest European universities in the service of the Church, and in pursuit of the humane and liberal areas of study. He cites St John Henry Newman as another and more recent influence on Catholic universities, with the Cardinal’s articulation of the idea of a university as a place for the formation of the whole person.

Professor McClaran said: “That means a commitment to a breadth of knowledge, in the context of a very strong commitment to forming the whole person, to seeing higher education not simply in instrumental terms but also in terms of the development of character, and an approach which understands the place of ethics within higher education.

“One of the key developers of artificial intelligence, who's now really worried about the way which that may go, was saying recently that no one's teaching ethics in AI or computing science. I think a Catholic university should have an ethical approach across the curriculum.

“The strength of the tradition we're drawing on is that ethics matter, the virtues matter, character development matters. We prepare our students to be highly employable - and to make a significant impact on the society in which they will be employed.”

This emphasis on ethics is put into practice at the university, which is also home to research initiatives for some of society’s most contemporary and controversial issues. In 2015 the Bakhita Centre for Research on Slavery, Exploitation and Abuse was opened, named after the Sudanese former slave St Josephine Bakhita, which works with government departments and charities. St Mary’s alumnus Sir Mo Farah, a campaigner against human trafficking and modern slavery and a victim of these crimes, was recently made a patron. The Centre for the Art of Dying Well also has its premises on campus, exploring practical matters such as palliative care and support during grief.

Local links

As with England’s other three Catholic universities, Leeds Trinity, Liverpool Hope and Newman, St Mary’s was originally established as a college to train teachers.

Professor McClaran said: “Someone in our institute of education said to me a little while ago that they reckoned about half the heads and deputy heads of Catholic schools in Greater London had been trained at St Mary's. While that’s anecdotal, there are St Mary's teaching graduates widely across the Catholic school system and those links with Catholic schools remain incredibly important for trainee teacher placements.”

The university’s bond with the capital is further born out in membership of the South London Partnership, an alliance of boroughs to promote economic growth and sustainability. Students participate in work placements with local businesses, while St Mary’s also runs the Exchange Theatre in Twickenham on behalf of fellow partnership member Richmond Council, and supports arts festivals in the area.

Thriving Catholicism

Unsurprisingly, there is plenty of Catholic and faith life in the university, from a very active chaplaincy to Masses held twice a day on campus, and there are Catholic, Christian and Islamic student societies. In 2016 the Sisters of Assumption opened a new community at the invitation of St Mary’s, to be a praying presence, and to arrange services such as evening prayer adoration. Pentecost celebrations have also taken place on site organised by members of Loretto HOME, a nearby Christian community where some students are residents.

The university also administers the diaconate programme for dioceses in the South of England, and is home to Mater Ecclesiae College, a Pontifical institute and seminary. Further afield, at the request of the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, St Mary’s runs theology courses at the Gillis Centre in the Scottish capital.

Serving students

In conclusion, and as demonstrated by its high-scoring national leaderboard positions, the university is clearly well-regarded by that most critical of audiences, those who choose to study there. For the Vice-Chancellor this is underpinned by belief, and a principle of service for all.

Professor McClaran said: “Drawing on our Catholicism helps us to be a good university, in terms of serving our students, a good university in terms of academic achievement and outcomes. There's a really strong commitment to providing strong support for our students, because we believe that's the way in which they are going to learn most effectively.

“Those qualities are really the gift of a Catholic approach to higher education - not just for Catholics, but for everybody who studies here.”

The Dicastery for Culture and Education has been formally presented with the new Religious Education Directory for Catholic schools in England and Wales.

Monsignor Giovanni Cesare Pagazzi, Secretary of the Dicastery, welcomed the new directory at his office on 29 March, along with the Rt Rev Philip Egan, Bishop of Portsmouth; CES Director Paul Barber; Religious Education Adviser Philip Robinson; and Senior Policy and Education Adviser Dr Nancy Walbank.

Titled To Know You More Clearly, the directory covers Foundation Stage to Year 9 with a programme of study and model curriculum, replacing previous editions published in 1996 and 2012. It was drafted to reflect the 2022 Instruction by the Dicastery titled The Identity Of The Catholic School for a Culture of Dialogue.

Topics covered in To Know You More Clearly include the relationship between faith and science; the problem of evil; nature of human freedom; rights of the unborn; plight of refugees and asylum seekers; war and peace.

There is also a focus on the beauty of Catholicism and its influence on culture through art, music, literature, science, and architecture, equipping young people to engage with the Church beyond intellectual remits, and approach the transcendent.

Download the new Religious Education Directory

Paul Barber, Director of the CES, said: “This amendment secures important legislative protections for Church academies similar to those that exist for maintained schools, and is a welcome measure to safeguard the charitable purpose of school land.

"The Catholic Church is the biggest provider of secondary education and second largest provider of primary schools, with nearly 850,000 pupils. With thanks to the Government this legislation will help ensure the Church’s mission in education is protected as schools move toward a multi-academy trust model.” 

As one of England’s four Catholic universities, Leeds Trinity was founded in 1966 originally in the form of two teacher training colleges, run by the Sisters of the Cross and Passion and by a forerunner of the Catholic Education Service.

Professor Charles Egbu was appointed as Vice-Chancellor in 2020, amid new Covid variants, lockdowns, and the widespread adoption of online teaching by universities.

A practising Catholic, he had originally planned to study as a medical doctor, but when his father died he realised he needed to study nearby instead and support his mother and other siblings.

He ended up applying for a course in quantity surveying at what is now Leeds Beckett University, achieving a 1st class Honours degree.

After a stint working on construction sites he returned for a Master’s degree in the built environment, then a PhD in construction management at Salford University, and over the course of the next two decades ascended to senior leadership positions in various higher education institutions.

The year before his appointment to Leeds Trinity Professor Egbu served as President of the Chartered Institute of Building, and was recently announced as an Honorary Fellow of The Royal Institute of British Architects.

Going digital

He acknowledges the significant changes in higher education that pandemic-led online teaching has brought about, that it has enabled a greater flexibility for personalised learning, at a time and place convenient for example to mature students, that students can in effect be remotely supported wherever they are. However, as universities emerge from the pandemic, this has also meant reintroducing an element of in-person learning.

“We’re now trying to bring them back,” Professor Egbu said, “it’s been challenging for certain of our students, work-based learning students would still want to come in one day a week, though those who have caring responsibilities, caring for the elderly, sick, or disabled, who have childcare issues would want to stay where they are.

“There are a lot of benefits, but also challenges in trying to make sure that students really understand what it is to come in, to understand the culture of the university, and work face-to-face with their peers.”

Diversity in leadership

Three years after his appointment, across UK higher education Professor Egbu remains the only black Vice-Chancellor. He said that while there had been an increase in the proportion of undergraduate students from ethnic minorities in recent decades, for instance increasing 24% to 27% in the five years to 2020, a degree award gap has held steady. He added that more students from ethnic minorities drop out from their courses, and are 13% less likely to achieve a good degree grade than their white counterparts.

He said: “Very few from minority communities get into graduate jobs, and it becomes more telling when you look at senior positions, only 0.7% of professors in the UK are black professors, very few people are able to get into a Dean’s position or Pro-Vice Chancellor. The reason is simple, the pipeline is not coming through, by the time you get into that sphere there are very few black people, and also very few people of disability.

“My university is doing quite a lot because we are a university that believes in social justice, in the issue of recruitment, career promotion, mentoring and coaching, but there’s more that everyone has to do to improve this position.”

Catholic higher education

Leeds Trinity, along with England’s three other Catholic universities, Liverpool Hope, Newman, and St Mary’s, was originally set up to train teachers, especially to teach at schools in less privileged areas.

Today, teachers continue to graduate from the university, while the mission has expanded in the form of the university’s social justice framework, and with the appointment of Dr Ann Marie Mealey in November last year as Director of Catholic Mission. She is devising the university’s Catholic mission strategy based on Catholic social justice and social teaching, and has established initiatives such as a series of free online lectures on Catholic approaches to issues such as policing, economics and art, and curated an annual conference on Catholic higher education. Dr Mealey is also setting up continuing professional development sessions for time-pressed local schoolteachers, and supporting the virtues-based Stella Maris Leadership Awards scheme run by nearby Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College.

Professor Egbu said: “Fundamentally my Catholic upbringing, that wherever you are you must give more than you get, has meant me trying to support those who are less privileged or who struggle to get into academia. I’ve made it a point of duty to always bring to universities what I call widening participation, for people who are struggling to get there — once they’ve got the promise, and the opportunity, we need to realise their potential.”

However, while many aspects of the university’s Catholic life are flourishing, Professor Egbu said, issues remain for the sector as a whole. “Many of us as Catholic universities are struggling,” he said, “because in a secular society those things that stood us well in the past perhaps are becoming a challenge. In the past if you asked somebody why they came they would say because of the philosophy and ethics, the Catholic mission and Catholic teachings. Very few people are now coming to the university to do this.”

Global family, local mission

Leeds Trinity has recently become a full member of the US-based Catholic Health Association, ahead of plans to introduce nursing degrees next year. Partnerships are also being established through membership of the International Federation of Catholic Universities, and in Latin America. As a result, the number of international students is expected to grow significantly. A year ago there were only 15 international students, at present there are 80, but in the next three years the total is expected to rise to 500.

“We know that many students benefit greatly from being able to travel across the world between Catholic universities,” Professor Egbu said, “so it’s a now new strategic ambition to grow this, prior to that we’ve always been a localised university.”

Closer to home in Leeds, the university is also set to expand its campus estate. A property in the city centre has recently been acquired, with plans to open additional facilities including student support services and a Catholic chaplaincy.

A Catholic approach

Through championing Catholic virtues, with inclusivity and dignity, the university’s aim is to develop well-rounded, resilient students who are sought after by employers, and which is what Professor Egbu believes differentiates Catholic higher education.

“We are obliged to make sure we transform their lives because we’ve seen the potential,” he said. “Not many universities can say that! Once you are in our university we want to develop the wholeness in you, through volunteering, support work in the community, coaching, mentoring, the wider social justice, so you can begin to picture yourself when you are out there, how you can contribute to a challenging world, and you are prepared for that.”

Ultimately, the Leeds Trinity Vice-Chancellor hopes graduates cherish their university experience and maintain its values, of being supportive in any environment they find themselves in, giving everybody an opportunity and, ultimately, seeing Lord Jesus in everyone.

“It’s not antagonistic to how the world is changing, indeed it’s part and parcel of a very challenging world — with the centrality of care and compassion and innovation at the heart of it.”

Amid a national Religious Education (RE) teacher shortage we welcome The Bloom Review and its clear evidence that RE is vital for children and young people to learn.  

RE is the core of the core curriculum and Catholic schools dedicate at least 10% of the timetable to this essential subject, while the Church’s RE curriculum and inspection framework are recognised as models of best practice.  

There are 2,175 Catholic schools, colleges and academies across England and Wales, representing just under 10% of state education. Catholic pupils achieve the highest GCSE RE results in the country, and represent a quarter of all entrants. The past year has seen the launch of a new RE curriculum and national inspection framework to ensure that the quality of RE in all Catholic schools remains high. We are happy to share our Catholic approach to ensuring high quality RE to help improve RE teaching as a whole. 

The Catholic Education Service is committed to continued working with the Government in support of Catholic education, high-quality RE and increased religious literacy in the Government and the wider public sector.  

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

At this stage in the calendar, when we draw close to the summit of the Liturgical Year - the Sacred Paschal Triduum, we celebrate with reverence the passion and death of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and we look forward with joy to celebrating at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night and on Easter Sunday morning his resurrection from the dead.

As we come to the end of this term, it is also a time for many students in our schools which coincides with an intense period of study in preparation for examinations in the summer. For young people, it is a time of hope but it can be a time of anxiety also. What is most important though, is that their time in school is a time when they can flourish: in mind, body and spirit. Christ came that we might have life and have it to the full. The flourishing of young lives through Catholic education is indebted to the years of dedication and commitment given by school leaders, teachers, learning assistants, chaplains and by all the staff and governors of our schools.

On the threshold of Holy Week, we catch sight of the new life in Christ which his death and resurrection holds out to us and to the world. It is a vision which we glimpse in the prayers and liturgy taking place in schools and churches up and down the land.

I give thanks to Almighty God for the noble vocation of all of you who work and serve in our schools. I pray that you, your families and your loved ones will receive many blessings from the Lord during this great Solemn Feast of Easter, and that it will be a time of joy and thanksgiving for you all.

With the assurance of my prayers, I remain,

Your servant in our Lord Jesus Christ,

Rt Rev Marcus Stock

Chair of the Catholic Education Service

Bishop of Leeds

Rehumanising a world of post-pandemic volatility is a theme running through a new, free online lecture series from a Catholic university.

Beyond The Dark Clouds, hosted by Leeds Trinity University from April to November, sees 12 lectures from UK and international contributors including a former government minister, centred around justice in contested issues such as the police, law enforcement, business ethics, spirituality, the arts and more.

The title is drawn from ‘dark clouds over a closed world’, a phrase used by Pope Francis in his 2020 encyclical Fratelli Tutti. In this the Pope refers to the ‘desensitised human conscience’ as among the chief causes of global crises, that “local conflicts and disregard for the common good are exploited by the global economy in order to impose a single cultural model...the advance of this kind of globalism strengthens the identity of the more powerful.”

Positioning Catholic higher education as a platform to return religious tradition and thought to public debate, the series features talks on policing, from the internationally renowned Dr Tobias Winright, Professor of Moral Theology at St Patrick’s Pontifical University, Ireland, and from former Chief Superintendent Tony Blockley, now Head of Criminology and Policing at Leeds Trinity University.

Economics, justice and Catholic social teaching are addressed by Philip Booth, Professor of Public Policy at St Mary’s University; and former Labour government Trade and Industry, and Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs minister, Sir John Battle, discusses the Church in the wider, secular, world.

Each lecture is recorded and then uploaded as a podcast to both Spotify and Apple. 

Professor Charles Egbu, Vice Chancellor of Leeds Trinity University, said: “We are pleased to have the participation of such a prestigious line-up of speakers for our lecture series, and look forward to discussing some key social issues affecting communities today and how the Catholic university can be a vehicle for change and progress.”

Dr Ann Marie Mealy, Director of Catholic Mission at Leeds Trinity University, said: “Much of the suffering and alienation that people felt during lockdown has not yet been acknowledged fully or discussed openly, and we should acknowledge the need for healing more.

“Many of us at Leeds Trinity share the Church’s desire to get involved in public discussions about how to humanise our world, and to bring about the conditions that enable the flourishing of all individuals and groups – please join us.”

Find out more - to register for attendance, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Catholic schools’ GCSE Religious Education (RE) exam results are the best in the country, according to the latest data.

Analysis by the Catholic Education Service (CES) of GCSE RE attainment for 2022 has shown that results from Catholic schools have overtaken the national average for the exams.

Last year 75.2% of Catholic school RE GCSE candidates scored a C+ or grade 4, compared to 68.3% nationally.

The results at A Level were more comparable, however, with 66.9% achieving A* or B in Catholic schools, compared to 67.7% in all schools.

Just over a quarter (25.6%) of all pupils who sat GCSE RE exams last year were from Catholic schools, while the proportion was 9.8% at A Level.

Across England and Wales there are 2,175 Catholic schools, colleges and academies, which educate more than 849,000 pupils.

This represents 9% of the state sector in England and 6% in Wales.

Philip Robinson, CES RE Adviser, said: “This is good news, and testament to the hard work of RE teachers and students in Catholic education.

In a society both increasingly secular and religiously pluralistic, RE has an essential role in enabling respectful dialogue on contentious issues like faith and science; refugees and asylum seekers; war and peace.”

The CES has recently launched a new RE Directory, for introduction from 2025 – find out more.

A new Religious Education (RE) Directory for Catholic schools, colleges and academies in England and Wales has been launched at an event in Westminster.

The directory was introduced at Cathedral View on 25 January by speakers including Dr Margaret Carswell, Senior Lecturer at the Australian Catholic University; Baroness Barran MBE, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Education; the Rt Rev Marcus Stock, Bishop of Leeds and Chairman of the Catholic Education Service (CES); and Paul Barber, CES Director.

Titled To Know You More Clearly the directory sets out the purpose of RE from Early Years Foundation Stage to Year 9 and features a programme of study with a model curriculum, corresponding to the six half-terms of the school year.

The new directory replaces previous editions published in 1996 and 2012, and states that RE is to be taught for at least 10% of curriculum time up to age 16 in Catholic schools and academies, and 5% in sixth forms.

It was drafted by experts including the late Professor Anthony Towey, Head of Theology, Philosophy and History at St Mary’s University; CES Religious Education Adviser Philip Robinson; Senior Policy and Education Adviser Dr Nancy Walbank; and representatives of the Association of Teachers of Catholic Religious Education and the National Board of Religious Inspectors and Advisers.

Based on the constitutions of the Second Vatican Council and rooted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the objective of the curriculum is religiously literate and engaged young people, with the knowledge, understanding and skills to reflect spiritually, think ethically and theologically, and recognise the demands of religious commitment in everyday life.

In his preface, Bishop Marcus writes: “As well as seeking to assist parents with the education and religious formation of their children, Catholic schools strive also to be of service to society. Religious education plays its part in this endeavour by enabling all pupils to be confident and secure in their religious faith and knowledgeable and respectful of other religions, and so play a crucial role in building a cohesive society.

“This new edition of the Religious Education Directory strives to embody these inspiring objectives.”

Baroness Barran thanked those present and highlighted “the important role Catholic schools, and schools with a religious character more generally, play in giving children a moral compass, guiding them with values that will be integral not only through their school journey, but beyond that into adulthood, into the workforce and into society.”

Other attendees at the launch included Schools Commissioners from the Catholic dioceses; and representatives from the Church of England Education Office; Board of Deputies of British Jews; Religious Education Council; National Association of Standing Advisory Councils of Religious Education; Culham St Gabriels; Catholic Union; and from the London Jesuit Centre.

While nurturing the faith of Catholic pupils, the curriculum prepares all pupils to play their part as critical citizens in a plural and diverse culture. It develops in them a dialogical attitude, through the content that is presented and through the modelling of respectful dialogue in class, a particularly powerful witness in a context where social media has had such a detrimental impact on the civility of public discourse.

Topics covered include the relationship between faith and science; the problem of evil; nature of human freedom; rights of the unborn; plight of refugees and asylum seekers; war and peace.

There is also a focus on the beauty of Catholicism and its influence on culture through art, music, literature, science, and architecture, equipping young people to engage with the Church beyond intellectual remits, and approach the transcendent.

A series of training workshops on the directory and model curriculum for dioceses are also being planned to take place throughout the year.

Download the new Religious Education Directory