The Slovenia education aims to ensure study in Slovenia availability is at its maximum in assuring the students higher education levels. Slovenia’s education is state funded as well as a percentage from the municipal budgets. Study in Slovenia is compulsory for secondary and tertiary schools, but they also fund pre-school education, boarding schools and university boarding schools and post-graduate students’ education.
The number of students who study in Slovenia doubled since the early 1990’s with 84% of secondary school leaver moving on to do tertiary studies. Higher education student numbers also rose significantly from 19% to 41% during a survey done over a fourteen year period.
Education statistics in Slovenia education are as follows:
Elementary schools – 787
Pupil numbers of all elementary schools – 159,508
Amount of pupils per teacher in elementary schools – 12.3
Secondary schools -129,129
Pupil numbers of all secondary schools -82,267
Tertiary education facilities – 89
Amount of students in all tertiary education facilities – 107,134
Amount of graduates in tertiary education facilities – 19,694
Amount of student that enrolled for post-graduate studies – 13,300
The Republic of Slovenia Education Constitution stipulates that education and study in Slovenia is free. It is the State’s responsibility to provide compulsory basic education and also fund compulsory education with the use of public funds. The State also has the responsibility in providing all citizens of Slovenia adequate education opportunities.
The education language is Slovenian and in Hungarian areas it is compulsory for educators to have bilingual instructions in both Slovenian and Hungarian. In the Italian areas of Slovenia there are specific Italian secondary schools and there the Slovenian language is a compulsory subject even though the education is in the Italian language. International schools in Slovenia are a combination of French and English and Slovene is available at these schools as a foreign language education.

Study in Slovenia is made possible as part of the Erasmus international student exchange program. Students experience not only the culture and Slovene language while they receive a Slovenian education, but also the beauty of this country. Three public universities of Slovenia are Primorska, Maribor and Ljubljana and also an international Euro-Mediterranean University, which is based in Piran. The lectures here are only offered in Arabic, French and English at the Euro-Mediterranean University.
An exchange program is viable even for students not familiar with the Slovene language, as part of study programs are in English and courses are adapted to suit foreign students receiving a Slovenia education. An attractive night life and lively social life are other attractions available to foreign exchange students.
The University of Ljubljana allows applications to the facility as exchange students for 1 or 2 semesters. An application procedure is the nomination from your university to International Relations Office and an online application at the University of Ljubljana. Application deadlines for a full academic year of winter semester are 15 May and for the summer semester it is 15 November.
Instructions at Ljubljana University are offered in English and Slovenian and requirements are that a student must be proficient in either one of the two languages at high level. Accommodation is available to students in form of double rooms, with a shared kitchen and shared bathroom. Internet access in all the dormitories available and average price of a room is 80 Euros.
Bilateral Scholarships are offered to foreign students from the following countries: Turkey, Switzerland, Slovakia, Russian Federation, Macedonia, China, Poland, Montenegro, Mexico, Japan, Italy, Israel, Hungary, Greece, Czech Republic, Croatia and Bulgaria. After a successful application it will take approximately 2 weeks for money to be transferred to a student’s host institution. Accommodation is arranged in a dormitory for the period awarded and paid for by the Ministry.

Slovenia is a country known for delicious traditional food and great wines, located between the meeting place of the Pannonian plains, Karst, Alps and the Mediterranean. Forests and woods are plentiful with lots of snow during winter months. Parents relocating with children can have a look at study in Slovenia as well as higher education for children and teenagers favourably as the country strongly supports genuine European knowledge and work at implementing measures of importance. Some are modern postgraduate studies, undergraduate development, educational statistics, language learning, non-discrimination, equal opportunities and much more.
Grades or years in the Slovenia education cycle are divided into 2 terms with a new school year starting on the 1st of September each year. Grade one to fourth grade children forms one class and usually subjects are taught by different teachers. Slovenian, Italian or Hungarian is the language taught, depending on the area or if it is an International school. After the fourth grade a foreign language is introduced, usually it is English.
Slovenia education underwent several structural and legislative changes, rapid student number increases and a desired country for foreign students to study in Slovenia. Foreign national children undergo the same education from age six at Danila Kumar International School located in Ljubljana, an international elementary school. A private Institution, Ecole Francaise offers French primary school education as well as private schools in Maribor and Ljubljana.
Instruction language for children who study in Slovenia is Slovene, except ethnically mixed regions of Italian and Hungarian communities. English is the educating language at Gimnazija Maribor and Gimnazija Bezigrad where tuition fees must be paid. A number of private schools are also part of the Slovenian education system, such as Waldorf secondary school, general secondary school in Ljubljana, diocesan elementary school called Euro Sola Ljubljana.
Higher education is available to students at four different universities namely: University of Maribor, University of Ljubljana, University of Nova Gorica and University of Primorska.

Several forms of higher education exist in Slovenia with the number of choices increased by the education reforms made in the late 1990s. In 1996-1997 postsecondary vocational colleges (višje strokovne šole) were added, linking education and work experiences more closely with much of the training provided by private companies. Training in these colleges lasts for two years and ends with a diploma examination and the title of the vocational area in which the student is qualified, enabling the graduate to begin work in a specific occupation. Starting with the 1998-1999 academic year, graduates of this form of training were also allowed to enter certain professionally oriented programs in higher education schools, depending on the decision of the latter institutions. In 1999-2000 Slovenia had 9 postsecondary vocational colleges—7 public and 2 private—serving a total of 2,447 students, of whom 1,189 were youth and 1,258 were adults.

Additional forms of higher education in Slovenia are provided through faculties and art academies belonging to universities, stand-alone faculties established as private institutions offering both professional and more academic study programs, and professional colleges offering only professional training. Slovenia had two public universities at the turn of the millennium, the University of Ljubljana and the University of Maribor, which together encompassed a broad range of faculties, academies, and colleges. The private colleges included schools for undergraduate and post-graduate study in such areas as environmental sciences, the humanities, business, and the arts, among others. A dual system was developed in the late 1990s whereby certain higher education programs trained students for specific professions and other programs give students more general preparation for further professional studies or for advanced academic studies and research. Higher education is divided into undergraduate studies, whose graduates receive a diploma and the first degree title, and post-graduate studies, leading to a second degree title, the title of specialist, the academic title of magister znanosti or magister umetnosti (equivalent to a Master’s degree), or doctor znanosti (equivalent to a Ph.D. degree).

Read more: Slovenia – Higher Education – Students, Programs, Time, and Academic – StateUniversity.com

Primary school

Children first enter primary schooling at about the age of 6 and finish at about the age of 14. Each group of children born in the same year forms one  grade or class in primary school which lasts until the end of primary school. Each grade or year is divided into two terms. Once or twice per term, children have holidays: Autumn, Christmas, winter and May first holidays; each holiday is approximately one week long. At summer time, school ends on 24 June (except in the last/ninth grade, where it ends one week earlier), followed by a holiday of more than two months. The next school year starts on 1 September.

1st period

The 1st Period is the beginning of schooling for every child. From the first to the fourth graden children stay in one classroom and have one class or form and one teacher which teaches all subjects, except on some occasions, sports, art and music are taught by separate teachers or is supervised by the appropriate teacher. In the beginning of the first year there is always one special pedagogue in the classroom and he or she helps the master teacher lead the younger students into the new system. They start with reading, writing and counting. Children are taught their native language (Slovenian, Hungarian or Italian language, depending on the area of their schooling), mathematics, natural and sociological sciences, music, physical education and art. In the fourth grade they begin to learn their first foreign language, which is usually English. Until the second grade, children only have descriptive marks, and following the second grades examinations are marked with number grades (some subjects are graded with descriptive marks up until the seventh grade).

2nd period

The 2nd Period of primary schooling starts in the sixth grade when children begin switching classrooms. They still have a master teacher. He or she usually teaches them one or two subjects and all others are taught by other specialized teachers. The Main subjects which they need to attend are math, the native language, their first foreign language, PE, music and art. Later they start with physics, chemistry, geography, history, biology, craft and housekeeping. In the seventh grade they must choose at least two (the third is not compulsory). The subjects offered are subjects which tend to interest children, and they have around 40 to choose from (usually these are foreign languages, astronomy, fine art, computer science etc.).

State tests

At the end of the third, sixth and ninth grade pupil are examined by special state tests in math, the native language and their first foreign language, and the third subject tested in the ninth (or eighth) grade is decided by the minister. These exams are then checked and first two do not mean anything (they are only meant to examine the average knowledge of the pupils ). But exams in ninth grade are used to evaluate the pupil’s performance during their school years. The points acquired by these tests used to be the key factor, when a child wanted to join a particular high school, but with the new system, the points acquired are only used when pupils running for the same school have the same points from their grades, so the commissioners of the school take into account the points acquired to finally evaluate the student whose performance is the best.

Marks and grades

The grades are the same as in other countries that belonged to Yugoslavia before 1991. In primary school marks start with 1 (insufficient) and is the only failure mark. The second one is 2 (sufficient), the next is 3 (good), then 4 (very good) and the best is 5 (excellent).

Courtesy: Wikipedia

With the EU directive on patient mobility coming into effect in 2014, another Eastern European country is now preparing to accommodate international patients. Slovenian health authorities are encouraging hospitals to achieve hospital accreditation according to international recognized standards. Along with Det Norske Veritas (DNV), the Slovenian healthcare authorities are seeking to improve quality of care and patient safety.

Hospital accreditation in Slovenia

So far, DNV has awarded certificates to two Slovenian hospitals; the University Rehabilitation Institute SOCA in Ljubljana and the University Clinic of Respiratory and Allergic Diseases in Golnik. As these are the two first hospitals in Europe to receive DNV’s international healthcare accreditation, this marks an important milestone for the movement towards Slovenian medical tourism.

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