Poll shows people in Greece trust Public Universities

At a time when there is a broader crisis of key institutions, Public Universities stand out as an exception, with the citizens placing great trust in them.

That was one of the main conclusions of a public opinion survey conducted by Metron Analysis market research and opinion polling agency.

The survey found that the citizens’ trust in institutions is declining.

There are just three institutions that have a positive balance, namely Family (+77), the Armed Forces (+40), and Universities (+24).

Stratos Fanaras and Yiannis Balampanidis’s analysis in the Greek Sunday newspaper To Vima tis Kyriakis identifies schematically three kinds of institutions. Among the few that have a positive balance are those that we would refer to as ‘Institutions of Protection and Opportunity’ (See Family [+77] and Universities [+24]).  The ‘Institutions of Order’ likewise display a positive or at least roughly neutral balance. On the contrary, the ‘Institutions of Politics’, in the broad sense of the term, have the poorest performance.

Accordingly, the Rector of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Professor Gerasimos Siasos, made the following statement:

‘It was with great interest that we heard about the results of the recent public opinion poll, which reflects a high level of trust of society in Public Universities. This trust recognizes and rewards our efforts to produce and disseminate knowledge, promote research and innovation, and contribute to society’.