100 years – Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana (1919–2019)

Abstract

The early beginnings of Slovenian medical education take root in the Enlightenmentera with Academia operosorum (1693–1725) and its medical section with the physician Marko Gerbec, although the Jesuit College introduced higher education in Ljubljana already in 1619. In 1782, a Medico-Surgical Academy was established in Ljubljana, the first to provide a secondary level of medical education. Later on, when a part of present Slovenian lands was included in the Illyrian Provinces (1809–1813) as a part of Napoleon’s French Empire, with Ljubljana as capital, the school advanced to the level of a medical faculty (École Centrale). The subsequent restoration of Austrian sovereignty prevented the school from completing even the first class of graduates’ training. In 1848, Medico-Surgical Academy was dissolved and only midwifery schools remained.

It was only after disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, as a consequence of the World War I, that in 1919 the first Slovenian University was established in Ljubljana, and within it a incomplete medical faculty was offering four preclinical semesters. In 1940, fifth and sixth semesters were added to the Faculty. The liberation impetus led in July 1945 to the establishment of a complete medical faculty including five years course divided in ten semesters. In the 1949/1950 academic year, the Faculty of Medicine was separated from the University and trained one generation of physicians as a medical college; in 1954, it was reintegrated into the University. During that period, in autumn 1949, the Faculty of Stomatology was established, which soon joined with the Faculty of Medicine, whereupon two departments were established: one for general medicine and one for stomatology (dental medicine). In the 1968/1969 academic year, the Faculty of Medicine introduced a master’s programme, and in 1995 a uniform doctoral programme; in the academic year 1989/1990 the programmes of medicine and dental medicine were extended to twelve semesters.

In 1975, the new Ljubljana Medical Centre building was finished and the Faculty thus obtained the necessary lecture halls, classrooms, and rooms for clinical practice. In the next decade, in 1987, the main preclinical institutes moved to the new building of the Faculty and students finally received state-of-the-art lab classrooms, facilities, and other infrastructure. In 2015, the Faculty also constructed a new building for preclinical institutes for biochemistry and cell biology. Throughout the years the programme has continued to improve and stay up to date, and the Bologna system of education was introduced in the academic year 2009/2010.

Ever since the Faculty is complete it has trained approximately 9,000 physicians and 2,000 dentists, and awarded more than 1,700 doctors of science degrees and more than 1,000 master of science degrees in the postgraduate programme for physicians and dentists; it has also trained many students in graduate clinical training programmes. The Faculty of Medicine is oriented towards the future, a strong connection between theory and practice, interdisciplinary and international cooperation, and especially training new high-quality medical professionals.