Founded in the second half of the 17th century, the University of Zagreb is the oldest university with continuous activity in Croatia and it is among the oldest universities in Europe.
The history of the University of Zagreb begins on September 23, 1669, when Leopold I, the Roman emperor and King of Hungary & Croatia granted the charter recognizing the status and privileges of the university institution to the, at that time, Jesuit Academy in the Free Royal City of Zagreb. This was accepted by the Parliament of Croatian Kingdom on November 3, 1671. Therefore, the University takes the year 1669 as the year of its foundation, and November 3 as the University Day.
In the academic year 2018/2019, the University of Zagreb is marking its 350th anniversary with a series of events taking place in the university premises. The peak of the celebration will be the ceremony that will take place on November 3, 2019, at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall. In the presence of distinguished guests from home and abroad, who will join the rector prof. Damir Boras, Ph. D., vice-rectors, deans and vice-deans, professors and students, will be commemorated the 350-year history of the University of Zagreb, emphasizing thus the importance of the oldest higher education institution with continuous activity in Croatia.
The University of Zagreb is today a modern higher education institution with 34 constituents - 30 faculties, three academies, and one university department. With approximately 70,000 students at all three study levels - undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate, that makes 48.5 percent of all students in the Republic of Croatia, the University of Zagreb is the largest higher education institution in our country. The uniqueness of the University of Zagreb is its universality, that is, the representation of all scientific fields, which enables scientists and students to work, research and study in numerous scientific fields and branches, which makes it an important driving force of our society. Of all university projects in Croatia, projects of the University of Zagreb make some 81 percent, with a total value of approximately € 13.5 million. In addition to research and education, the University of Zagreb recognizes innovation and technology transfer as its third mission, thus ranking it alongside modern and innovative universities that systematically foster research excellence and knowledge transfer to the economy.
From the rich history of the University of Zagreb, it is necessary to mark out a few other important dates and events.
The Philosophical Studies in Zagreb started in 1662 by the charter of Leopold I, the Roman emperor and the King of Hungary and Croatia, since 1669, has been acting formally and legally as Neoacademia Zagrabiensis, i.e. as a publicly chartered institution of higher education. The Academy remained under auspices of the Jesuits for more than a century, until 1773, when Pope Clement XIV suppressed that order.
In 1776, by decree, the Empress and Queen Maria Theresa founded the Royal Academy of Sciences (Regia Scientiarum Academia) with three studies or faculties: Philosophical, Theological and Legal. The former Political-Cameral Study became a part of the newly established Faculty of Law, and thus the Cameral Study was incorporated into the Academy.
At the initiative of the great patron of Croatian education, culture and art, Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer, in 1861 the Croatian Parliament passed the legal basis for the University of Zagreb. During his visit to Zagreb in 1869, Emperor Francis Joseph signed a statutory article on the University of Zagreb, and five years later a new statutory article was drafted, which received the ruler's sanction on January 5, 1874, thanks to Ban Ivan Mazuranic. On this basis, the modern University of Zagreb was inaugurated on October 19, 1874. By the rulers will at the opening ceremony the monarch was represented by ban Mazuranić. The law of 1874 meant that the University of Zagreb should have four faculties: Law, Theology, Philosophy, and Medical. The first two faculties were already organized: Legal within the former Academy of Law, Theological Faculty within the Seminary. They were, therefore, able to continue their work to the full extent. The Faculty of Philosophy paid particular attention to the development of the fundamental disciplines of its science and mathematics department, which eventually became the cradle of several new faculties of the University of Zagreb. Thus, in 1882, in the wing of the Faculty of Philosophy, the Pharmacy Course was established, and in 1898 the Academy of Forestry. In that academy was organized the 1908 Geodetic course, which in 1919 was included in the Technical High School. Academic Years 1917/1918 the School of Medicine was established.
After the First World War, the University of Zagreb is entering a new era of activity. The first faculty after the war was the Faculty of Economics and Forestry, founded in 1919. The faculty was created by the merging of the former colleges: the Higher Economic College in Križevci and the former Forestry Academy in Zagreb. The same year the College of Veterinary Medicine was founded, which was in 1924 raised to the level of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. In 1920, the High Royal School of Commerce and Transportation was established, which in 1925 was renamed the High Royal School of Economy and Commerce, with a level and capacity of faculty, but remained outside the University.
In 1918, the Technical College in Zagreb was founded, in which in 1919 four classes began teaching. In 1926, she joined the University of Zagreb as a Faculty of Engineering. Thus, the number of faculties of the University of Zagreb in the interwar period increased to seven. In 1942 the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry (Faculty of Pharmacy) was founded on the basis of many years of teaching and scientific work at the Faculty of Philosophy.
Since the Second World War, the University of Zagreb has made remarkable progress in increasing its number of studies and faculties in several stages of development. In 1946 Faculty of Science was founded, 1947. Faculty of Economics (under that name was High School of Economy and Commerce incorporated into University), 1962. Faculty of Political Science and Dental Faculty, 1967. Faculty of Kinesiology (Faculty of Physical Culture), 1973 Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation (Faculty of Defectology), 1974 Organizations and Informatics, 1981 Faculty of Food, Technology and Biotechnology. In 1956, the Technical Faculty was divided into the Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, and the Faculty of Chemistry and Food and Mining. After several organizational changes, the following faculties are now operating in this group: Faculty of Architecture, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Faculty of Transport Sciences, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, Faculty of Geodesy, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Graphic Arts, Metallurgical Faculty Faculty, Faculty of Mining, Geology and Petroleum Engineering and Faculty of Textile Technology.
Higher education in the arts has long been outside the University. It was not until the end of the last century that the University was incorporated: in 1979 the Academy of Dramatic Arts and in 1980 the Academy of Fine Arts and the Academy of Music. The Catholic Faculty of Theology returned to the University of Zagreb in 1991; By the decision of the Senate of the University of Zagreb in 2015, the former Faculty of Philosophy of the Society of Jesus, which was part of the Croatian Studies, became 34 constituents of the University of Zagreb under the name Faculty of Philosophy and Religious Sciences (FFRZ).
Since the Republic of Croatia signed the Bologna Declaration in 2001, it has joined the creation of the European Higher Education Area. By the decision of Senate in 1999, the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) was introduced at the University of Zagreb. In the academic year 2005/2006 new study programs in line with the principles of the Bologna Declaration were launched.
A more detailed text on the history of the University of Zagreb is available on the University's official website at www.unizg.hr, and at https://www.unizg.hr/o-sveucilistu/sveuciliste-jucer-danas-sutra/povijest-sveucilista/