A Study on Undergraduate Students’ Sensitivity to Human Rights

The purpose of this study is to (i) survey undergraduate students’ perceptions of and sensitivity to human rights issues, and (ii) adapt the ‘taking the human rights temperature questionnaire’ (thrtq) into turkish to facilitate further national and international comparisons. the data were collected from 1175 undergraduate students studying at different departments across 10 faculties at marmara university in istanbul, turkey. the analyses showed that, as opposed to the sensitivity hypothesis, students’ sensitivity to human rights issues significantly differed across faculties, and furthermore the level of sensitivity decreased as the study years advanced. gender did not have a significant influence on responses. the present research is a step towards clarifying the meaning of sensitivity to human rights among undergraduate students. the results showed expected and unexpected outcomes, and suggested that more systematic efforts are needed to facilitate better understanding, awareness, and sensitivity towards human rights, of which current higher education programs neglect.