German HEI students’ trust in political institutions to properly deal with the Covid-19 pandemic – emphasis on the specific role of intercultural experience

ABSTRACT Political measures to confront the Covid-19 pandemic are a stress-test for citizens’ institutional trust. Higher education students’ trust in political institutions is of particular interest as they are substantially affected by Covid-19 related measures: For the most part, their academic institutions have been put under lockdown, they have had to adapt to new learning formats extemporaneously, and typical sources of income (like marginal employment) have potentially broken off. The paper at hand takes a closer look at determinants of institutional trust among students enrolled at German HEIs from a government performance perspective as well as culturalist approaches. Special attention is paid to intercultural experience in the form of international student mobility, as EHEA policy makers stressed the positive effects of mobility on civic responsibility. Analyses show that indicators from both theoretical points of view have an expressive impact on trust in political institutions to deal properly with the Covid-19 pandemic: The findings support the relevance of government performance and students’ individual economic well-being as well as social trust in predicting students’ institutional trust; furthermore, evidence suggests a positive relationship between international student mobility (as well as its link to social trust) and civic responsibility.