The best secondary school pupils see their future abroad, showed the latest survey conducted in 2017 in 59 vocational schools and gymnasiums throughout the country.

Almost a half of pupils said they believed knowledge was not appreciated in Croatia, and viewed the future of the country as very negative or negative. Only 20 percent of pupils saw the future of Croatia as positive, reported Index.hr.

The Institute for Social Research (IDIZ) conducted the survey, one of the largest ever conducted in Croatia, on some 13,300 secondary school pupils across the country.

The most pessimistic pupils are those with the highest grades, and over a half of them see their future in the EU, or elsewhere in the world.

They also think teachers are not appreciated enough, and almost two thirds said that factors other than learning abilities, such as good connections, parents, or resourcefulness, were much more important for getting admitted into universities.

A great majority of students, some 86 percent, had a positive outlook on their own future in the next 20 years. The future of Europe is regarded as positive by some 49 percent, and negative by some 13.4 percent.

Among the least successful pupils, some 42 percent plan to leave Croatia, compared to over 52 percent of the most successful.

Around 81 percent want to go to university, some 72 percent pupils from vocational schools, while the percentage rises to 97.4 percent for gymnasiums.

High education became the norm in Croatia, IDIZ said, and even the pupils with very low grades plan to go to university. Only 11 percent plan to get a job immediately after graduating secondary school, while some 8 percent plan to take time off school.

A great majority, around 74 percent, believe it is very difficult to find a good job in Croatia without a college degree.

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