Ultra-Orthodox women pursuing higher education: motivations and challenges

Highly religious students from fundamentalist or sectarian religious communities face unique challenges in pursuing higher education, directly bearing on their educational opportunities. This study reports findings on ultra-Orthodox Jewish female students in Israel, a group which only recently began pursuing higher education. Using a mixed-methods design, we surveyed 469 students and conducted in-depth interviews with 61 additional students in order to explore their motivations, concerns and challenges in pursuing higher education. The interviews elicited narratives of a ‘Heroine’s Journey’ format, indicating that for many of these women, entering college is perceived as a transformative series of trials. Challenges and management techniques were identified, primarily concerning value and worldview conflicts. A k-means cluster analysis of the survey revealed five distinct profiles of students (practical, driven, anxious, self-realizers and conventional) with differential demographic characteristics. We analyze these results as reflecting ‘multiple traditionalities’ and discuss their implications for supporting highly religious students in higher education.