4. Higher education in Slovakia

 Oldest Slovak Universities

The first university on the territory of present-day Slovakia, Academia Istropolitana (1465-1491), was established in Bratislava during the rule of Matthias Corvinus (1458-1490). In 1635, Peter Pazmany established Trnava University (which was relocated to Budapest in 1777). The Jesuits founded Košice University in 1657. In 1770, the enlightened, absolutist ruler, Maria Theresa, established the first school of mining in the world - the Mining Academy in Banská Štiavnica.

Higher Education Institutions

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are third-level educational, scientific and arts institutions. The major task of HEIs is the provision of higher education and creative scientific research or creative artistic activity. Higher education institutions are classified by nature and scope of their activities into university type of HEIs and non-university type of HEIs.

a) The university type of higher education institutions shall provide education in the study programmes of all the three levels with a significant portion of study programmes of the second level and study programmes of the third level. The study programmes shall be carried out in connection with activities of higher education institutions in the field of science, technology or art, and in compliance with the current state and development of such fields. The term of "university" may only be used in the name of a university type of higher education institution.

b) The non-university type of higher education institutions shall provide higher education mostly in the study programmes of the first level.

Based on founding and funding there are 3 types of HEIs.

Public higher education institutions

Public institutions of higher education are established by law. They are financed mostly by the government. They are statutory and self-governing institutions. At present, there are 20 public institutions of higher education, comprising 9 more or less traditional universities, 5 universities of technology, 3 higher education institutions of art and music, 1 university of economics, 1 university of veterinary medicine and 1 agricultural university.

State higher education institutions

State institutions of higher education (3 HEIs) are military, police and medical schools. They are established by law and governed by state through the corresponding ministries of the government. The state HEIs are fully financed from the state budget.

Private higher education institutions

Private institutions of higher education (10 HEIs) need to have the state approval issued by the Government of the Slovak Republic. They are established and financed by non-governmental institutions or founders. Most of the private higher education institutions provide education on bachelor level only, specialised in the fields of economics, business, management, public administration, law, international relations, regional development, medical and social work.