CHERC is an outgrowth of the meetings of institutional researchers and other interested parties from Catholic Colleges and Universities from across the country, which have been held at Villanova University on the Monday of Holy Week for each of the past nine years.

The initial objectives for CHERC include:

1. Developing and maintaining a web site with data and information on Catholic Higher Education.
    
2. Developing and maintaining a list serve for those interested in research on Catholic Higher Education.
     
3. Conducting collaborative research projects.
     
4. Sharing survey instruments and question sets on issues germane to Catholic Higher Education.
     
5. Analyzing data from existing survey efforts (e.g., CIRP, CSS, CSEQ, NSSE, etc.) to examine the impact of Catholic Higher Education.
      
6. Continuing to host an annual meeting.