LOS ANGELES—A recent study of college students indicates their high interest in spiritual matters is unmet by their professors.

According to Baptist Press, a report released Nov. 21 by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at UCLA found more than half of college students surveyed last spring said integrating spirituality into their lives is "very important" or "essential." Seventy-one percent said they find religion to be personally helpful.

But a mere 8 percent of students said their professors frequently encourage discussions of religious or spiritual matters, while 62 percent said they never encourage such discussions.

"Higher education needs to explore how well it's meeting the great traditions at the core of a liberal arts education, grounded in the maxim, 'know thyself,'" UCLA professor Alexander W. Astin, director of the HERI and leader of the study, said. "The survey shows that students have deeply felt values and interests in spirituality and religion, but their academic work and campus programs seem to be divorced from it."

Of the students questioned, 77 percent pray, 70 percent attended a religious service in the past year, and 78 percent discuss religion or spirituality with friends.

The study utilized a Cooperative Institutional Research Program annual survey of college freshmen completed by the same students three years earlier. When comparing the most recent results with those from 2000, researchers found that a dramatic change occurred in attendance of religious services. The number of students attending religious services frequently dropped by 23 percent (52 percent to 29 percent) from when they entered college to their junior year.

Regarding spiritual development, 65 percent question their religious or spiritual beliefs at least occasionally, and 73 percent said their spiritual or religious beliefs helped them develop their identity. Seventy-four percent said those beliefs provide strength, support and guidance, and 86 percent said that an "essential" or "very important" goal in life is attaining wisdom. Only 9 percent of college students surveyed said "religiousness" is "much stronger" since entering college.

The majority of college students surveyed indicated a need for God. Thirty-one percent said it's futile to try to discover the purpose of existence.

The study was conducted last spring with 3,680 third-year college students from 46 diverse colleges and universities nationwide. For more information about the study, visit the website at www.spirituality.ucla.edu.