ABSTRACT
Some universities have a specific purpose that drives them beyond the traditional mission of education, research, and innovation. They are called “mission-driven” universities and are created with religious, patriotic, social, or cultural motivations. For example, in the context of European colonialism and the growing influence of Western culture, some Buddhist and Hindu leaders decided to create universities to educate the new generations and to nurture in them pride for their own culture and adherence to their religion (Wyatt 1984; Renold 2005). In countries where Muslims were, and still are, a minority religious group, Islamic universities were established to provide an educational experience inspired by the tenets of the Islamic faith (Hardy 1972). Christians, particularly Catholics, founded universities in “mission countries” to educate the elites converted to their religion but also to contribute to the social and economic progress of those nations. In the second half of the nineteenth century, however, reacting to the progressive secularization of traditionally Catholic countries and the laicism of public universities, the Church created a significant number of universities in Europe and Latin America (National Catholic Educational Association 1973).
