Abstract

The institutions are responsible to promote, regulate and guarantee the coordinated social action among citizens. For decades the institutional trust has been declining. This creates a major problem because institutional trust is necessary for the institutions development. Among the negative consequences that it brings, it is found that the low institutional trust is associated with low general social trust. Because of that, people feel insecure in their relationships with others and have pessimistic thoughts about the reliability of strangers, which affects social cohesion, cooperation, collective connection and tolerance between citizens, among other things. The aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between social trust and institutional confidence in the Argentinean context, confidence levels, and the relationship between institutional trust and effectiveness. For these purposes, a self- administered questionnaire was designed and applied to 316 college students from four public and private universities in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The results indicate that participants have a low institutional and general social trust, there is a relationship between institutional trust and general social trust, and finally, that institutional confidence is influenced by the perception of institutions effectiveness. Despite this rather optimistic scenario, these results may help to identify the areas to start working out the problems of low levels of institutional and social trust. If the social confidence of Argentineans is greater than institutional trust, it should be strengthened these social ties as it will allow to improve social cohesion and participation, and believe that working together can improve and change the proper functioning of institutions. From this point, It is possible gradually increase the number of people as social networks. Also, as results shows from this research and previous ones, the Education in Argentina is an institution in which you trust, and it would be feasible to start and/or strengthen the process of change in educative centers. Although it is not an easy task, it is necessary for society to live better and more equitably.

Abstract

The closure of higher education educational centers, including higher education institutions, was one of the first measures taken by the Argentine National Government to prevent the spread of the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. This article addresses some strategies related to teaching in higher education carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina, as well as future projections or recommendations that could be derived in the post-pandemic stage with the aim of having strategies of coping with similar situations. The pandemic generated a deep reflection on institutional educational practices in the country, in particular, regarding their pedagogical sufficiency to take on the challenges of training mediated by technological resources. Virtual education implies extra work for the teacher, not only because of the preparation of materials, but also because of the need to always be available to hundreds of students. In the case of higher education, current reality has shown that, although some careers or subjects are practically impossible to do in virtual mode, in others it is feasible and even practical; The need arises then to review the curricular networks in the universities. Not only teachers, but also students, should be willing to change traditional models of education and find more participatory roles, so that this situation, a product of the health crisis, translates into a positive change in the educational processes of education. Argentine superior that is maintained in time.