ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE PRESENCE OF AGE DISCRIMINATION IN LABOUR RELATIONS IN THE SYSTEM OF SCIENCE AND HIGHER EDUCATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to check the presence of age discrimination in labour relations in the system of science and higher education of the Republic of Croatia as perceived by the respondents, the University of Osijek and the University of Rijeka’s employees. In order to realize this objective, an empirical study has been conducted, and the employees from these universities were selected for the research group. Data collection had been carried out using an online questionnaire posted on the Google Drive platform before the pandemic caused by the Covid-19 virus. A total of 2,958 addresses were identified, as follows: 1,506 at the University of Rijeka and 1,452 addresses at the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek. Based on the analyzed results of the empirical research, it was found that: 1) the respondents, employees in the system of science and higher education of the Republic of Croatia, perceive that age discrimination is present in labour relationships in higher education, 2) the respondents, employees in the system of science and higher education of the Republic of Croatia, perceive that age discrimination is present in terms of achieving equal working conditions, 3) the respondents, employees in the system of science and higher education of the Republic of Croatia, perceive that age discrimination is present in advancements in higher education, 4) the differences among the respondents in the context of the above statements exist only with regard to some of the demographic characteristics covered by the research (gender and type of job), as well as with regard to belonging to one of the universities covered by the research.