THE LEADING NATIONAL VOICE OF CHRISTIAN HIGHER EDUCATION

The Council for Christian Colleges & Universities is a higher education association of more than 185 Christian institutions around the world. Since 1976, the CCCU has served as the leading national voice of Christian higher education. With campuses across the globe, including more than 150 in the U.S. and Canada and more than 30 from an additional 19 countries, CCCU institutions are accredited, comprehensive colleges and universities whose missions are Christ-centered and rooted in the historic Christian faith. Most also have curricula rooted in the arts and sciences. The CCCU’s mission is to advance the cause of Christ-centered higher education and to help our institutions transform lives by faithfully relating scholarship and service to biblical truth.

To fulfill our mission and meet the needs of our institutions, we provide unique services for administration, faculty, students, and friends of Christian higher education in three pillars of strategic focus:

The CCCU was founded more than 40 years ago with a purpose that was simple to state but lofty in ideal: Create a broad association of Christian colleges that would support promotion and leadership activities for member schools and provide a unifying voice for Christian higher education in the public square.
 
At the same time, the Council’s founders launched the organization’s first faith-integrated, semester-long experiential study program: the American Studies Program in Washington, D.C. ASP’s launch laid a foundation for future transformative and immersive global off-campus programs, now known as CCCU GlobalEd, which have educated and transformed the lives of more than 13,000 students through experiential education rooted in Scripture and the belief that faith can be integrated into all aspects of life in all locations around the world.
 
Since the CCCU was founded in 1976, we may have changed in size, in scope, in office location, and even in name, but we have always remained rooted in our mission: to advance the cause of Christ-centered higher education and to our help our institutions transform the lives of students by faithfully relating scholarship and service to biblical truth.

The institutions of the CCCU share three basic educational commitments:

First, we integrate biblical truth not just into “spiritual” aspects of the institution but throughout the academic enterprise. Our professors pursue academic excellence because they are committed to God as the author of truth, and that truth has implications for every academic discipline. The classroom and the laboratory are just as much arenas of Christian integration as the college chapel.

Second, we are committed to the moral and spiritual formation of students. Education that instructs the mind without deepening the soul is not true learning. Our schools seek to develop students who, in the words of the Old Testament prophet, “act justly and love mercy and walk humbly with their God” (Micah 6:8). This requires not simply professional competence but wisdom, which is a sense of things in their proper relationship and a love for the right things. Our purpose is to form students of moral commitment who live out Christian virtues such as love, courage, and humility. This task gives meaning and coherence to every part of the academy, from the classroom to the fine arts studio, from the internship placement to the residence hall and the athletic field.

Third, we are committed to graduating students who make a difference for the common good as redemptive voices in the world. Our schools offer a wide variety of academic programs because we believe that Christians are called to use their vocations as vehicles to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to a fallen world. Our graduates are “hopeful realists” who recognize the brokenness of the world but believe that God has called them to work for its healing. As such, they play a redemptive and restorative role in the world as doctors, teachers, marketers, engineers, parents, soccer coaches, and in a host of other ways. In other words, we are private religious institutions that exist for the public good and contribute to human flourishing. 

Christian colleges and universities provide an affordable, high-quality education for students, and are vital in educating first-generation and low-income students.

Download The Case for Christian Higher Education 2020

Download The Case for Christian Higher Education 2021

Download Moral Compass Summons

To fulfill our mission and meet the needs of our institutions, we provide unique services for administration, faculty, students, and friends of Christian higher education. Click the report to download.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are more than 4,300 degree-granting institutions of higher education in the United States. These include nearly 2,600 private institutions, just over 1,000 of which define themselves as religiously affiliated. Of those, 140 Christian colleges & universities in the U.S. have found common cause in the mission of the CCCU (as part of the CCCU’s broader membership of more than 180 Christian institutions around the world).

President & Cabinet

Under the leadership of President Shirley V. Hoogstra, the global team at the CCCU strives to advance faith and intellect for the common good.

See the CCCU President & Cabinet

Staff Directory

Our many programs and services are coordinated by a core team in Washington, D.C. and by the staff of each of our experiential education programs.

See the CCCU Staff

Board of Directors

Our board of directors provides leadership and vision central to the CCCU's mission.

See the CCCU Board of Directors

Commissions

The CCCU works closely with a strong group of volunteer leaders in key administrative positions on CCCU campuses. These groups, called commissions, advise the CCCU on relevant topics, assist with planning content and securing speakers for conferences, and work to connect and serve as a resource for colleagues in peer positions at CCCU institutions across the country.

See the CCCU Commissions

Leadership Transition

The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), a higher education association of more than 185 Christian institutions around the world, is seeking a new President to follow the highly successful tenure of Shirley Hoogstra, who has announced her plans to retire from the position later this year.

Leadership Transition

From sponsoring conferences and events to utilizing print, email and website advertising opportunities, we provide a variety of ways for you to connect with key leaders on CCCU campuses.

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The CCCU partners with a wide variety of organizations who all hold different roles in higher education, in religious freedom, and in Christian formation.

We are a member of the following organizations:

American Council on Education (ACE)

Correctional Education Association (CEA)

Council of Independent Colleges (CIC)

Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA)

Evangelical Immigration Table (EIT)

International Network for Christian Higher Education (INCHE)

National Association of Independent Colleges & Universities (NAICU)

Washington Higher Education Secretariat (WHES)

We partner on a variety of initiatives with organizations like these:

America’s Christian Credit Union

Association of Business Administrators of Christian Colleges

Australian Christian Higher Education Alliance

Chaplaincy Innovation Lab 

Christian Community Credit Union 

Christian Higher Education Canada (CHEC)

National Association of Evangelicals (NAE)

National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC/CONEL)

National Latino Evangelical Coalition (NaLEC)

World Relief

World Vision

We regularly recognize individuals who have championed the cause of Christian higher education.

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