Free and Open-Source Software in Higher Education

This paper explores the usage and awareness of free and open-source software (FOSS) among university students attending several study programs at the Faculty of Organization and Informatics (FOI) of the University of Zagreb and the Faculty of Teacher Education (FTE) of the University of Zagreb. Using the data collected via an online questionnaire on the sample of 777 students and the descriptive and inferential statistics, an analysis was carried out to determine whether the respondents are familiar with the key features of FOSS, whether they use some FOSS, whether they are aware of the advantages of FOSS, which features of FOSS are the most important to them, and how they evaluate the quality of FOSS. The data were analysed using the statistics FOSS GNU PSPP and R. The research results show that 92.66 % of the respondents use some kind of FOSS, 28.99 % are aware that they are using FOSS with all its features, and the most important FOSS feature for the respondents is that it is often cost-free. There are significant differences in the respondents' familiarity with FOSS and the number of FOSS operating systems users in terms of their faculty and gender. On a scale from 1 (insufficient) to 5 (excellent), the respondents' rating of FOSS reliability was 3.74, completeness 3.68, and overall quality 3.74. The research results indicate the need for additional education of students about FOSS, and its advantages and disadvantages.