The General Public's Perceptions of Universities as Promoters of the Values of Sustainability and Civic Education: A Case Study from the Czech Republic

Higher education institutions (HEIs) play a significant role in helping society adapt to an ever-changing world, including through sustainability and civic education.From the perspective of resource dependence theory, examining stakeholder attitudes is a key aspect of research on sustainability, civic education, and HEIs.In this context, the general public remains an understudied group.This article aims to describe public attitudes towards HEIs in sustainability and civic education and to explore their relationship with sustainability-related emotions.The study is based on a quantitative questionnaire survey (N = 1,460) and employs descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and two-step cluster analysis.The results suggest four perspectives on the role of HEIs among participants: Changers, Supporters, Opponents, and Indifferents.HEIs appear to have a stronger mandate to shape public attitudes towards sustainability than they do to shape attitudes towards the broader functioning of society.Furthermore, attitudes are associated with emotions at both the group and individual levels: Changers report the highest level of sustainability-related emotions, whereas Opponents report the lowest.