The paper has explored the influence of age/year of study, high school education, additional music education, engaging in music in leisure time and frequency of attending to the theatre and classical music concerts on students' world music preferences and the relationship between world music preferences and familiarity of music. The research was conducted on a sample of students from different faculties of the University of Split and the University of Zagreb, using a questionnaire composed of two parts: The Sociodemographic Questionnaire and The Music Preferences Questionnaire. The results do not confirm the influence of the type of high school education or age/year of study on the students’ world music preferences. Furthermore, the influence of additional music education, engaging in music in leisure time or the frequency of attending to the theatre/classical music concerts on the students’ worlds music preferences has not been confirmed. The existence of a relationship between familiarity of music and the students’ world music preferences has been confirmed. The obtained results have significant implications for music pedagogy, especially in the context of higher education.