Opening of New Premises in Ajdovščina
The adaptation of the former barracks in Ajdovščina, donated to the University of Nova Gorica by the Municipality of Ajdovščina, was completed in an exceptionally short time.
With its fast and quality work the contractor, Primorje d.d., enabled the relocation of the School of Applied Sciences, the School for Viticulture and Enology, the Laboratory for Epitaxy and Nanostructures, and the Centre for Atmospheric Research from a crowded building in Rožna Dolina just at the start of a new academic year.
The building was constructed between 1934 and 1936 for the needs of the Italian army; it served a similar purpose in the former Yugoslavia. The Municipality of Ajdovščina donated it to Nova Gorica Polytechnic, a predecessor of the University of Nova Gorica, in accordance with a decision from the Municipal Council on 9 October 2003. The donator's wish was to allocate the building for the implementation of study and research programmes in the fields of science and technics, to which the University of Nova Gorica responded immediately. The investment is worth 300 million tolars, including the equipment. In addition to the building, the Municipality of Ajdovščina earmarked another 90 million tolars for the renovation of the building. The remaining sum was provided by the University of Nova Gorica with the help of donators.
The renovated building, which offers 2200 m2 of useable area, contains studies and laboratories on the ground floor, which enable the implementation of top-level experiments in the field of organic electronics, and electronic and optical measurements. The first floor holds an amphitheatric lecture hall with 150 seats, two lecture halls with 50 seats, and one lecture hall with 70 seats. This floor also holds a state-of-the-art computer classroom with 20 workstations. The entire building is equipped with Internet connections and will shortly be connected with fast optical communication to the backbone of the Slovene academic computer network.
The University of Nova Gorica thus for the first time gained its own premises, with which it will be able to substantially mitigate the current lack of room; of particular importance is the fact that it is gaining earmarked laboratory areas, which will enable the smooth implementation of top-level research experiments and provide quality services to interested companies that are included in the development and research of demanding products and services.