Student’s trust in the university: analyzing differences between public and private higher education institutions in Brazil

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Students’ trust in their university is a topic that has been scientifically discussed. In practice, there is the need for higher education institutions (HEIs) to objectify their students’ trust. However, there is a limitation in the amount of works that aimed to measure and better understand their students’ satisfaction, particularly. It has been noticed a shortage of empirical work on the subject in the South hemisphere. It was also found that few studies investigated and compared students’ perception of trust in the public and private spheres. Seeking to fill this gap, a quantitative and descriptive study was made in two universities from the countryside of Brazil, a public one and a private one. An amount of 513 students of the business area courses (Management, Accounting and Tourism Business) took part in the study. For data analysis, first it was used the Exploratory Factor Analysis, and then, the T-Test and the ANOVA and Regression methods. The results indicate that students belonging to a private university trust more in it than students from a public university trust their institution. It was also found that women rely more on their universities than men, and that trust in the university by the students tends to decrease with time. It is therefore suggested that educational managers develop strategies and permanent actions to promote students’ trust.