Executive summary
The National Jewish Students Survey (NJSS) was carried out in February and March 2011. The sample contained 925 valid responses covering 95 different institutions and 43 students also took part in focus groups. A parallel study among the general student population elicited 761 valid responses.
Jewish upbringing and Jewish journeys
Jewish identity and practice
• Just over half the sample (52%) consider themselves to be ‘Religious’ or
‘Somewhat religious’; two out of five (41%) describe themselves as ‘Secular’ or
‘Somewhat secular’; 7% are unsure.
• Outside university,74% attend Friday night meals most or every week, 50%
eat only kosher meat at home, and 27% are shomrei Shabbat, i.e. they ‘do not
switch on lights on the Sabbath’.
Schooling
• 57% have attended a Jewish day school for at least one stage of their education.
One third (32%) have only attended Jewish day schools, a quarter (25%)
experienced a mixture of both Jewish and non-Jewish schooling, and 43% have
never attended a Jewish day school.
• Respondents from ‘Orthodox’ homes are more than twice as likely to have
attended a Jewish day school at all stages as those from ‘Traditional’ homes
(64% compared with 30% respectively).
Youth movements and Israel Experience programmes
• Most respondents (88%) have been involved with a Jewish youth movement at
least ‘Occasionally’. Whilst 59% of those from ‘Orthodox’ homes have been
youth movement leaders, only 38% of those from ‘Just Jewish’ homes have been
leaders. • Most respondents (82%) have participated in an Israel Experience summer programme (‘tour’).....
University challenge
Topics studied
• The most popular courses are medicine (9%), politics (6%), and ‘business
and finance’ (5%). Jewish students are three times less likely to be studying
‘education’ (3% v 10%) than students in general.......
Institutions attended
• Half the sample attends just eight (out of 113) institutions: Leeds (10%),
Birmingham (9%), Nottingham (7%), Manchester (7%), Cambridge (6%), UCL
(5%), Oxford (5%), and King’s College (3%). By contrast, less than ten percent
of the national student population attend these institutions....
• Students at universities with larger Jewish populations have larger Jewish social
circles than those at universities with smaller Jewish populations.
Accommodation and finance
• Most respondents (82%) live away from home during term-time. 18% live at
home with their families, the majority (58%) of whom are ‘Orthodox’. ....
Jewish beliefs and behaviours
Ethnic and religious attitudes
• Virtually all (94%) respondents agree/strongly agree that being Jewish is
about ‘Feeling part of the Jewish People’ and ‘Sharing Jewish festivals with my
family’ (91%).
• Whereas 72% ‘regularly’ attend a Friday night meal at home, 60% do so on
campus; similarly, 47% observe kashrut at home while 41% do so on campus....
Ethical Jewish behaviour
• Although 85% of respondents agree/strongly agree that being Jewish is about
‘Strong moral and ethical behaviour’, only 65% agree it is about ‘Volunteering
to support a charity’ or ‘Supporting social justice causes’ (64%).
• 62% of respondents currently do some voluntary work but only 16% do so
more frequently than once a month...
• 84% of ‘Religious’ respondents agree/ strongly agree that being Jewish is about
donating funds to charity (Jewish causes or otherwise), compared with 50% of
‘Secular’ respondents...
Jewish social life
Friends and socializing
• 34% of respondents agree/strongly agree that being Jewish is about ‘Socializing
in predominantly Jewish circles’, yet 59% report that more than half their
closest friends are Jewish. Religious respondents have more close Jewish friends
than secular respondents....
• A far higher proportion attend ‘Jewish social eventsmost weeks’ (such as
‘Booze for Jews’) during term-time (59%) than during vacation time (31%).
• Respondents’ primary methods of communicating with their closest friends are
by mobile phone (voice calls) (27%) and text messaging (26%). Their secondary
preferred method is via social networking sites (32%) such as Facebook.
Relationships and attitudes to intermarriage
• The majority (65%) of the sample is ‘currently single’, although most (85%)
have experienced at least one relationship in the past.• Two out of five (40%) have only ever had Jewish partners,...
• 72% agree that it is important for ‘a Jew to marry another Jew’, although 50%
of those who have been in a relationship have had a non-Jewish partner.
UJS and other student organizations
• Three-quarters of respondents (75%) are members of UJS.• Half the sample (49%) ‘regularly’ attends JSoc ‘meetings and events’ and a further third (32%) attends ‘occasionally’. • 70% of ‘Orthodox’ and 67% of ‘Traditional’
Jewish openness on campus
• A majority (59%) of respondents says that they are ‘Always open’ about their
Jewish identity on campus; 35% say that they are ‘Sometimes open’ about it.
Student worries compared
• Jewish students are more worried (very/fairly) than students in general about passing exams (76% compared with 68%) and living up to their parents’
expectations (41% compared with 32%).
•Jewish students are less worried (very/fairly) than students in general about finding a job (76% compared with 68%) and paying off financial debts (39% compared with 60%).
• Jewish students are more likely to haverelationship issues than students in
general (47% compared with 23%), feel lonely (34% compared with 23%), and
have personal health concerns (28% compared with 18%)...
Attitudes towards Israel
• The majority (92%) of respondents have visited Israel; of the 8% that have never visited (a proportion in line with other surveys), most hope to do so one day.
• Half (51%) have ‘very positive’ feelings towards Israel and a further 38% have ‘Fairly positive’ feelings; only 11% have either negative or ambivalent feelings. Most students in the general population have ‘no feelings either way’ (63%) about Israel...
Israel on campus
• 44% of respondents say that the topic of Israel arises ‘regularly’ or
‘occasionally’ in their Students Union.
• 38% feel that Israel is treated unfairly in their Students Union but 37% do not
know. Most (58%) think Israel is dealt with fairly in lectures and classes.
•Relatively few respondents say they are ‘very worried’ (8%) or ‘fairly worried’ (30%) about ‘Anti-Israel sentiment’ at their university. By contrast, 32% are‘very worried’ and 44% are ‘fairly worried’ about passing exams.
• Focus group respondents maintained that an over-emphasis on anti-Israel
sentiment at university in the Jewish media distorts the reality of their
experience. At the same time, they noted that it is difficult to hold even
apolitical events, such as ‘Israel Awareness Weeks’, without drawing “grief”.
Experiences of antisemitism
• Just over two out of five (42%) respondents have experienced an antisemitic
incident since the beginning of the academic year, which is similar to results
obtained by JPR in 2010 for Jews in general aged under 30.
• Despite this high incidence, just 4% say they are ‘very worried’ about
antisemitism at university...
Views on Britain’s Jewish community
• Focus groups respondents expressed negative views about Britain’s Jewish
community. They do not feel that their voices are being heard, they are
frustrated about inter-denominational tensions, they feel that alternative views
are marginalized and they express pessimism about the community’s future. JPR
Report October 2011 Key findings from the 2011 National Jewish Student Survey 11