The Attitudes of Students of Czech Universities to Refugees

The Bachelor's thesis deals with the issue of refugees and current attitudes of Czech university students, male and female, towards this issue. The thesis is divided into a theoretical part which is elaborated on the basis of reference sources and defines important terms that are necessary for proper understanding of the issue. This part aims to clarify the issue of refugees. It also addresses important Czech and international legislation on this topic. Furthermore, it deals with what refugees are going through when they arrive in the destination country. The practical part is elaborated in the form of quantitative research with the use of questionnaire technique. The questionnaire investigates the opinions and attitudes of Czech male and female university students to refugees and the current migration crisis and what factors influence these attitudes. The data was obtained through a questionnaire distributed electronically to respondents for 20 days during February 2017. A canonical corresponding analysis (CCA) was carried out using Canoco 5 programme to process the data. The questionnaire was sent to male and female university students in the Czech Republic. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. In the introduction, respondents were informed that the questionnaire would be used for research purposes only as part of a Bachelor's thesis. They were also informed about the Bachelor's thesis. Questions were formulated to show what the attitudes are of Czech male and female university students towards refugees. Questions were asked to discover whether the students were willing to accept refugees in the Czech Republic, provide assistance to them, and whether they were worried about refugees. It was also important for the research whether they were well informed about important terms such as "refugee" and "migrant". The following hypothesis was formulated: "Students of Czech universities who are already working and living on their own have a friendly attitude towards refugees." This hypothesis was confirmed in the quantitative research. Students who are not financially supported by their parents during their studies would accept refugees in the Czech Republic and provide them with some help. Moreover, they are not worried about refugees and are interested in the current migration crisis. The second hypothesis was formulated as follows: "Students of Czech universities who have studied abroad have a friendly attitude towards refugees." This hypothesis was also confirmed in the quantitative research. Students who have studied abroad as part of their studies would accept refugees in the Czech Republic, provide them with some help, they are not worried about refugees and are interested in the current migration crisis