A Study of Computer Literacy among Croatian Students as Support in Planning the Higher Education Development

Original scientific paper Computer literacy is essential in today's world. Particularly college and university graduates are expected to possess adequate knowledge and skills in using information and communication technologies (ICT). Starting from this premise, this paper presents the results of the research conducted in order to determine computer literacy levels among Croatian students. In the analysis special emphasis was given to examining the differences in computer literacy between polytechnic and university students. For this reason inferential statistics methods played a key role in the analysis. Research results have shown that students assess their general ICT competencies with relatively high grades, whereas advanced computer usage received lower grades. Furthermore, while university students gave higher grades to their general computer skills, polytechnic students gave higher grades to advanced skills. The analysis examined also the differences according to gender and year of study. Given that this paper identifies the areas of computer literacy that need to be improved, it can be viewed as support in planning the development of higher education. It should be noted, however, that the obtained results must be taken with a certain reserve, since ICT knowledge and skills were not examined directly in controlled conditions; rather, the insights given here are based on respondents' self-assessment.