100 Years of the University of Ljubljana

The rectangular logo of the University of Ljubljana, adapted and bearing the inscription '100 LET UNIVERZE V LJUBLJANI'; the state name 'SLOVENIJA' and the year '2019'.

When the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes founded its first state university in Ljubljana in 1919, it was far more than an act of education policy: it laid the institutional foundation for an independent Slovenian language of science and culture. Previously, Slovenian-speaking students had studied mainly at the universities of Vienna and Graz, since no higher education institution existed on Slovenian territory. The University of Ljubljana - today Univerza v Ljubljani - thus became the central place where a national intelligentsia could form, one that shaped the public, scientific and cultural life of the later Slovenian state.

Today, the University of Ljubljana, with around 40,000 students and 23 faculties, is Slovenia's largest and oldest higher education institution. It is among the research-intensive universities of Central Europe and appears in numerous international rankings. Its reach extends far beyond the capital; many of the figures who shaped Slovenian science, politics and culture studied or taught there. To mark the centenary of the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia issued a 2-euro commemorative coin in 2019, bringing this founding anniversary into European circulation.