The Culture of Trust in the Context of Changing Global Academic Scenario

Abstract

Contemporary social, economic and political contexts of higher education raise new challenges in the realm of education and research. On the one hand, we have to put great importance to the preservation of tradition and dignity of the academics and on the other hand, the processes of globalization and internationalization and development of new interdisciplinary fields of knowledge necessitate the search for new forms of functioning of the Academy. Traditional academic culture, of which the culture of trust is a significant element, encounters multi-dimensional changes. In this paper, the focus is on a very narrow example of a culture of trust in the changing academic culture, namely, the one element of interpersonal relationships in academy, that is, the trust in interactions in the process of assessment. Exams of mass-nature in higher education cause a lot of new problems. In this context, the results of research conducted in Polish academic milieu are presented. The objects of analysis are students’ opinions about the proposal of one of the students’ self-governments for monitoring the examination by third parties or using video cameras. Analysis of the collected empirical material indicates the scale of the immersion of the students in the culture of mistrust and suspicion. This can be seen as a sign of change in academia culture.