Ninety Years of the Ljubljana Faculty of Medicine (1919–2009)

Abstract

Th e early beginnings of Slovenian medicine lie in the Enlightenment-era Academia operosorum (Academy of the Industrious) and its medical section with the physician Marko Gerbec. In 1782, a lyceum for medicine and surgery was established in Ljubljana, the fi rst to provide a secondary level of medical education. Later on, when Slovenia was part of the Illyrian Provinces, the school advanced to the level of a medical faculty, but the subsequent reassertion of Austrian control over the Illyrian Provinces prevented the school from completing even the fi rst class of graduates’ training. In 1848, Slovenians lost its medical lyceum and only midwifery schools remained. It was only aft er the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy that a preparatory medical faculty off ering four preclinical semesters was established in 1919. In 1940, the faculty also added a fi ft h and sixth semester. Th e postwar impetus led to the establishment of a full medical faculty with ten semesters in July 1945. As pioneers in the fi eld displaying extraordinary commitment, the undersized faculty staff succeeded in introducing a full-time program. In the 1949/50 academic year, the Faculty of Medicine split from the university and trained one generation of physicians as a medical college; in 1954, it became part of the university again. During the split, 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 1968/69 academic year, the Faculty of Medicine introduced a master’s program, and in 1995 a uniform doctoral program; in the 1989/90 academic year, it extended its program to twelve semesters. In 1975, the new Ljubljana Medical Center building was built 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 of Medicine and students fi nally received state-of-the-art lab classrooms, facilities, and other infrastructure. Th roughout the years the program has continued to change and stay up to date, and new Bologna- style degree programs was implemented in the 2009/10 academic year. In its ninety years of existence, the Faculty of Medicine has trained approximately 7,000 physicians and 1,500 dentists, and awarded more than 750 doctorates in the graduate program for physicians and dentists; it has also trained many students in graduate clinical training programs. Th e Faculty of Medicine is oriented towards the future, a strong connection between theory and practice, interdisciplinary and international cooperation, and especially training new top-quality medical professionals.