Confidence in public institutions is dropping, according to the latest ANUpoll, with Australians having the highest regard for universities and schools.
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The Australian National University completes the survey of ordinary Australians quarterly to gauge people's views on issues of national importance.
The latest ANUpoll, the 29th iteration, looked at attitudes towards and challenges for universities in Australia.
The federal government and banks and financial institutions scored poorly, with 27 per cent and 28 per cent respectively, in terms of people's confidence in the institution.
However, the institution with the least public confidence was the press with only 20.2 per cent of respondents expressing faith in the media.
At the other end of the spectrum education institutions are well regarded with 78.8 per cent and 73.3 per cent of respondents expressing confidence in universities and schools respectively.
ANUpoll lead researcher Nicholas Biddle said society's trust in a broad range of institutions had been steadily declining in recent years.
"But clearly, universities are resisting that broader trend," Associate Professor Biddle said.
"It points to universities providing society with something people value and are confident in.
"Conversely, the generally low level of confidence in the press, the federal government, and banks and financial institutions raises serious concerns about the proper and robust functioning of Australia's political and financial system."
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Views on the roles of universities were also collected, with developing new ideas and training young Australians for the future workforce as the two most common perceived roles.
Preparing graduates for the workforce was seen as the most important skills and knowledge to be gained from a university.
The issue of international students at Australian universities was canvassed with 52.8 per cent of respondents saying the mix of international and domestic students was currently about right.
Although 46.1 per cent of people thought universities should lower the number of international students and increase domestic student numbers. Almost no respondents thought international student numbers should increase.
People currently attending university were far less likely to to think that international student numbers should decrease compared with people that had never attended university.
"This finding gives some support for the view that exposure to foreign students brings a more positive attitude," Associate Professor Biddle said.
Another policy examined was academic freedom at universities.
Only four in 10 people strongly agreed that academics should be able to express views that are different from the views of the government of the day.
And just under four in 10 Australians strongly agreed academics should be able to focus on research without fear of funding cuts.
A similar number strongly agreed that universities should invite speakers with a variety of ideas and opinions to campus, even those with views different to the majority of students.
ANU Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt said it was vital for universities to consider the views of ordinary Australians towards their role in society.
