At the end of the 2017 Fall Semester, MESA10 from Slovakia and CEAS from Serbia jointly carried out a survey with the following results:

69 percent of university students from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovakia want their countries to remain or to become members of the European Union. At the same time, they are equally split in their hope whether the countries of the Western Balkans and the EU’s East will ever join the European Union. Majority of students (57 perc) believe that within the next decade, the EU will be equally strong as today or stronger (43 percent opined that the EU will be weaker). Free movement of labour (27 perc), followed by free movement of capital (23 perc) and free movement of goods (22 perc) are the most important EU liberties for the students. Majority of students (53 perc) perceive the EU as the guarantor of their national sovereignty and defender of their values and interests. More than a quarter of them believe that within the next two years we will see reforms in the whole EU.

Almost half of the students feel the spread of propaganda and disinformation in their countries and almost a third of them associate it with Russia. 39 percent of students ascribe the spread of propaganda to social media, 34 percent to national TV and radio.

The students would hardly subdue to any charm offensive of the North Korean regime- 59 percent of students do not believe that the people of North Korea would have the same rights as they already enjoy because they think that the North Korean regime would survive.

They do not believe that Catalonia will be an independent state (only 19 percent of them say so).

The students are not afraid of political life: almost 56 percent of them did not exclude a possible candidacy in elections.

The survey was undertaken at seven universities from the aforementioned five countries. At the end of November 2017, altogether 1791 students were polled. The survey was a part of University Students Debates’ project aimed at promoting universal democratic values and principles.

Full report of the survey can be found here: FALL2017SURVEY

Full results of the survey can be found here: FULL RESULTS SURVEY NOVEMBER 2017