Ceremony Marking the 20th Anniversary of the University of Nova Gorica

Date of publication: 7. 10. 2015
News

The University of Nova Gorica started operating in 1995 under the name Faculty of Environmental Sciences, which was, at the time, the first international postgraduate school in Slovenia, founded by the Municipality of Nova Gorica and the Jožef Stefan Institute from Ljubljana.

Due to the introduction of new study programmes and the expansion of scholarly and research activities within the next three years, the faculty was restructured in 1998 and renamed the Nova Gorica Polytechnic. In 2005, the Senate of the Nova Gorica Polytechnic adopted the decision for the Nova Gorica Polytechnic to change its status and name to become the University of Nova Gorica. The key milestone in the process of establishing the fourth university in Slovenia was reached on 17th March 2006, when the Council for Higher Education of the Republic of Slovenia confirmed the founding of the fourth university in Slovenia – the University of Nova Gorica. The university has been developing at an even faster rate eversince, both in research and development activities, as well as in terms of its study programmes.

The University of Nova Gorica is a research-oriented university with a strong international character, renowned researchers and highly qualified teaching staff, who aim to transfer their knowledge to the students within seven schools offering studies in the fields of environmental sciences, humanities, physics, art, viticulture and enology, and engineering and management. Research is conducted at six laboratories and six centres with state-of-the-art research equipment. The university is involved in small- and large-scale international projects and has been successfully cooperating with numerous institutions of widespread acclaim.

To illustrate the university's successful cooperation of this kind, the involvement in the planning of the new observatory for gamma astronomy, called The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) should be pointed out, as well as the cooperation with institutions such as the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Imperial College London, Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization etc. Cooperation with research centres, laboratories and universities abroad enables a smooth flow of rich specific knowledge between all stakeholders. In this manner, the University of Nova Gorica above all allows the individuals, future key decision makers within our society, to grow and develop.

Apart form its research and teaching units, the university also offers all the necessary support services, such as the Student Office, the University Library, the Publisher of the University of Nova Gorica, the International Office, the Alumni Club, the Career Centre and the only university foundation in Slovenia – the Foundation of the University of Nova Gorica.

The university's specificities are its rich variety and up-to-date content of its research and study programmes, which have been designed in close cooperation with the industry and on the basis of the actual needs identified in the local entrepreneurial environment. In addition, the university boasts various forms of its active involvement into research projects and various mobility schemes. The university has signed agreements of cooperation with over 250 research and educational institutions worldwide and has been facing a steady increase in the number of faculty and student mobilities. Moreover, we are extremely proud of the fact that our graduate study programmes also attract a great number of international students from all over the world, who represent 50 % of the graduate student population. The university itself has become an inviting working environment destination for international scientists and teaching staff and the number of fully-employed experts from abroad has been therefore increasing steadily and has at this point reached the share of 22 % of the total number of fully-employed staff.

According to the U-Multirank 2015 international university ranking system, the University of Nova Gorica has achieved outstanding results on a global scale. The university above all excels in the areas of research, international orientation and regional engagement and at the same time also shows good results in the areas of learning and teaching. In addition, the EUA expert international evaluation committee has described the University of Nova Gorica as a “small, young, active and enthusiastic university with happy and satisfied students”.

The main academy event celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the University of Nova Gorica shall be held on Thursday, 15th October 2015, at the Zemono Mansion near Vipava.

Further information on the history of development of the University of Nova Gorica from 1995 to the present day is available at: "http://www.ung.si/en/about/history/"

Andreja Leban, Public Relations