• Reforming the Bologna Study Programmes at the University of Ljubljana

The study programmes of the University of Ljubljana are reformed in line with the strategic and fundamental goals of the Bologna Process (included in the Berlin communiqué):

1. The programmes are accredited with the Council for Higher Education of the RS.

2. All the study programmes are classified into the following levels or so-called cycles:

1st Cycle:

• higher education study programmes  
• university study programmes 
• pdf table 

2nd Cycle: 

• uniform master’s study programmes 
• master’s study programmes 
• pdf table 

3rd Cycle: 

• doctoral study programmes 
• pdf table

3. The promotion of the mobility of students and academic and administrative staff is ensured through mobility programmes and the accreditation of joint study programmes.

4. A credit system (ECTS) for the assessment of study performance is in place.

5. The Recognition of levels: levels and programmes are comparable to those in other countries acceding to the Bologna Declaration.

6. The Active involvement of higher education institutions, teachers and students in the Bologna Process and student participation in the management of higher education is ensured in all the managing bodies and in all programme reform processes.

7. The promotion of a European dimension in higher education is reflected in both the availability of our programmes to citizens of EU member states and in the availability of individual programmes or content in foreign languages.

8. The promotion of the attractiveness of the European higher education area.

9. Lifelong learning is an opportunity that we particularly try to embody in study programmes for advanced training and in a range of various short-term forms of knowledge updating.

10. A European higher education area and a European research area – two pillars of a society based on knowledge: our programmes incorporate knowledge and skills that represent a basis for the research competences of our graduates. At the same time, we promote both applicative and fundamental research in all fields, including by cooperating with institutes.

The study programmes were prepared together with all our partners and are assigned relevant credit values, which are internationally comparable and target-oriented for the development of knowledge, abilities and skills that will help graduates set out on their career path with success and equip them for further studies, professional development and research activity.

Our programmes contain all the elements of modern higher education programme schemes, allowing students to acquire EU-comparable qualifications and the knowledge required to enter the labour market. They also allow the progression to higher levels of education by providing broad basic knowledge in disciplines, transferable general competences, an interdisciplinary approach to the basics of research, the mobility of students and lecturers through numerous forms of cooperation with other European and non-European universities and direct links between study and future employers by means of practical training for students. For young people, these programmes represent the first experience of higher education; their role is all the more important because they mould a creative and responsible attitude towards developing their own knowledge in the future.

Inter-faculty cooperation is one of the fundamental stipulations in formulating study programmes and is ensured by the optional external segment of study programmes. It allows the students to fulfil a segment (5 %) of their study obligations at another higher education institution. The members of the University of Ljubljana thus offer a whole range of accredited study programme segments – i.e. individual contents and subjects available to students from another member as part of their optional studies. Finally, there is intensive and systematic cooperation between some UL members in planning first-cycle study programmes, which, in their nature, are interdisciplinary.

Doctoral study is distinctly interdisciplinary and opens up completely new perspectives in exploring the open areas in individual disciplines. Following the example of many European universities and the recommendations of the EUA-CDE, the University of Ljubljana established a doctoral school where, in the course of reforming the third-cycle study programmes, we managed to achieve greater interdisciplinarity, a critical mass of students and participant professors and stronger links between doctoral study programmes in all the scientific disciplines. Our doctoral study provides a basis for the development of new knowledge and competitiveness, which is why we pay special attention to linking such (doctoral) study programmes to research activity within and outside the University of Ljubljana and creating conditions that are favourable to interdisciplinary and inter-institutional links.