The good news for Catholic colleges and stand-alone universities is that the humanities saw above average growth — a 5.5-per-cent year-over-year jump to 176,817 students.

“The liberal arts and humanities are the bread and butter of the Catholic institutions, and primarily at the undergraduate level,” said Sylvester, principal of King’s College at the University of Western Ontario.

The enrolment numbers, particularly in central Canada, have given Catholic college administrators headaches managing growth, said Sylvester. But those are the kinds of problems they would rather have.

Convincing governments and funders of the real value of studying philosophy, religion, history and literature remains a challenge for the Catholic colleges, said Sylvester. Federal stimulus spending has poured millions into new buildings at graduate research facilities, but bypassed the small Catholic undergraduate colleges.

“We don’t get the kind of funding for infrastructure or buildings,” said Sylvester. “We just don’t get any of that.”

The gap between male and female enrolment in Canadian universities has been a fact of campus life for years, and it’s more pronounced in programs where the Catholic colleges are strong. There are 640,674 female students to just 471,408 males, making the national student body 57.6-per-cent female. In the humanities 61.3 per cent of the students are women.

The dominance of women doesn’t bother Catholic principals and deans and the general feeling is that the trend toward increased female enrolment is on the decline, said Sylvester.

Catholic college administrators spend more time thinking about how to convince both prospective students and government of the value of a general education.

“The liberal arts really are the means by which people can not only develop as whole people, as free people, but also give you the tools to survive in a changing society and a changing economy,” he said.

“Last time I checked critical thinking and an understanding of the person in society didn’t go out of style.”

Government funding that concentrates on research with potential to result in economically viable goods and services tends to pass by Catholic colleges, but the digital economy is creating opportunities, said Sylvester. As researchers come up with more and better ways to store and distribute information, they turn to liberal arts and humanities to provide content.

“They can have all the technology in the world, but if you don’t have the context and the content you have nothing,” Sylvester said.

Catholic colleges talk constantly about maintaining and promoting their Catholic identity. Rather than a source of anxiety Catholic identity is usually a strength of Catholic colleges.

“All of us have some kind of social justice program grounded in the teaching of the Church that has a real resonance with students who all want to save the world,” said Sylvester.

“They tend to have a strong service or experiential learning component that I think is entirely relevant to our mission.”