01 - Slovakia - Historical overview
By courtesy of Constantine Philosopher and his brother Method the first
Slovak higher education institutions was founded in Great Moravia in
the 9th century. They introduced in this area the Slovak liturgy, which
was adapted by them to fit the Slav mentality and spirituality. The
best well known educator was Saint Gorazd.
The first university
existing in Slovakia was Academia Istropolitana founded by Matthias
Corvinus in Bratislava in 1465. In the 16th century the Old Hungary had
no university, and therefore the inception of Jesuit universities in
Trnava, 1635, with philosophical and theological faculties, and
extended in 1665 by faculty of law and in 1769 by faculty of medicine,
and the Košice philosophical and theological faculties of 1657, were of
great significance for development of education In the period of
Enlightenment in 18th century they became the centres of formation of
new ideological trends, the centres of implementation of new forms of
teaching, and of scientific investigation and publishing. After
dissolution of the Jesuit monastery they were either moved or
dissolved. The need for vocational training led to the foundation of
higher vocational schools. The first College of technical orientation
in Europe was founded at the territory of Slovakia in Banská Štiavnica
in 1762. In 1763, Collegium oeconomicum was founded by Maria Theresa in
Senec, that corresponded in content and organisation of education to a
higher education institution providing the preparation of students for
the branches of national economy.
In the second half of the 19th
and beginning of the 20th century there were several theological
faculties and colleges in Slovakia, such as the agricultural academy
and academy of law in Košice and Banská Bystrica, and forest academy in
Banská Štiavnica. The Elisabeth University founded in 1912 and opened
as late as 1914 in Bratislava had four faculties of which only the
faculty of law and faculty of medicine were created due to war. In 1914
it was dissolved and moved to Hungary.
A new stage in
development of higher education in the Slovak Republic started in 1918
upon establishment of the First Czechoslovak Republic, when the older
colleges were dissolved and, based on the Act No. 375/1919 of the Law
Code, a state university was founded in Bratislava named Comenius
University. By 1938 it had the faculties of arts, law and medicine to
be added the faculty of science in 1960. The foundation of the Comenius
University was a significant event that led to cultural and social
advancement of Slovakia. According to the Act No. 170/1937 of the Law
Code the Technical College of dr. Milan Rastislav Štefánik was founded
in Košice to be renamed the Slovak Technical University with the seat
in Bratislava. The School of Commerce was founded in Bratislava on 4
October 1940 to supplement the missing spectrum of specialised higher
education of commercial orientation.
After 1948, the higher
education was built-up on the principle of a unified, state education.
A long-year imprint was labelled to it by the Higher Education Act No.
58/1950 that ensued from the Soviet model of planning and control of
higher education institutions with the aim to "educate professionally
and politically skilled specialists, loyal to the People’s Democratic
Republic and devoted to the idea of socialism". A department and
scientific postgraduate study was the basic organisational unit of
educational and scientific work. The Act No. 46/1956 supplemented the
former act in all fields concerning management, organisation and staff
of higher education institutions.
In addition to Bratislava, the
other towns of Slovakia become the university centres. In the academic
year 1982/83 their number was 13, excluding the military and
theological institutions, with 42 faculties and 55,874 full-time and
15,553 part-time students, and 1149 students from abroad.
After
adoption of the Act No. 172/1990 of Law Code on Higher Education the
system of higher education started diversifying and coming closer to
the European model of higher education institutions. The Act set out
comprehensive parts of higher education, fundamental academic rights
and freedoms, namely, the freedom of scientific research and of
publishing its results, the freedom of artistic creation, the right to
teach and to learn, the right to elect academic self-governing bodies,
the right to hold diverse philosophical views and to profess religious
beliefs and to disseminate them, the right to use academic insignia and
symbols, and to perform academic ceremonials.
Eurydice - the information network on education in Europe
Date: 2009
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