The University As a Scenario of Religious Change: A Sociological-Biographical Approach to the Case of the Complutense University of Madrid

Among the several decisive moments in the personal trajectory of many people, the university experience is one of them. In fact, university studies mark a turning point in the life trajectory of many people that also affects the relationship with religiosity, whether it be from belonging to a religious institution, the individual practice of activities with a spiritual dimension, indifference towards any type of religiosity or any other. In the university stage, one comes into contact with a greater number of people who are different with respect to religion than in previous stages, which makes the university one of the first interreligious contexts, to which many people have access. At the same time, the university years often coincide with profound changes at the personal level, which in terms of individual religiosity can manifest itself in multiple ways. Thus, university life, understood not only as an area for acquiring regulated knowledge but also as a space for intense social interaction, constitutes a relevant context to be taken into account in the study of religious change in today's societies.
In order to analyze these questions, it is essential to adopt a biographical perspective in which the relevance of the university experience in the religious change of individuals is highlighted. For this reason, this paper will analyze the different trajectories of religious change during the university stage. For this purpose, we will show the data obtained in a research carried out in the framework of the project DIVERESU: Religious and Spiritual Diversity of the University Students of the UCM (Complutense University of Madrid) of the Student Observatory of the same university in the year 2024.