Student mobility
The Strategy for the internationalisation of Slovenian higher education has several basic goals and improving the mobility of tertiary students is one of them. Supported by initiatives of international and national programmes both the share of students who exercised mobility abroad and the share of foreign students who had joined the Slovenian higher education to complete certain study obligations in the so-called credit mobility has been increasing slowly but surely since 2008/2009.
Mobility promoting programmes
Erasmus+
The Erasmus+, the leading European programme in education and training, aims largely at supporting projects of mobility in short-cycle higher and higher education. The study mobility to and from Slovenia is exercised mainly through the Erasmus+ programme.
The Erasmus+ programme provides students with an opportunity to complete study obligations in part (study mobility) or practical training (mobility for placement) in the programmes of Erasmus+ countries and partner countries. Students may go on study mobility abroad or practical training for no less than 2 and no more than 12 months in every cycle. Every study period or practical training abroad, including doctoral mobility, can be undertaken as blended mobility, regardless of its duration. Blended mobility is a combination of physical mobility with a virtual component, which facilitates online exchange and teamwork for collaborative learning. Each student can also participate in blended mobility by attending a combined intensive programme, which must last from 5 to 30 days in physical form, with no criteria for the duration of the virtual component. Still, students must acquire a certain number of credits through the combination of components. Young graduates of tertiary education can participate in internship mobility within 12 months after the completion of their studies. Students and young graduates with fewer opportunities are eligible for additional support for long-term mobility.
Most programmes of student mobility in Slovenia are under the auspice of the Centre of the Republic of Slovenia for Mobility and European Programmes of Education and Training (CMEPIUS) cooperation with the Ministry of Education. The Public Scholarship, Development, Disability and Maintenance Fund of the Republic of Slovenia (Fund) allocates every year additional funds for students in the Erasmus+ programme. Thus, students receive extra funds for their monthly Erasmus+. All to widen access to international mobility.
Erasmus Mundus
Since 2014, Erasmus Mundus has been an integral part of the Erasmus+ programme, under the name Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s degree. The Erasmus Mundus action is aimed at promoting excellence and internationalization of tertiary education institutions worldwide through master's level study programs, which are jointly implemented and recognised by tertiary education institutions based in Europe and are open to institutions in other countries around the world. It enables students from all over the world, including Slovenian students, to apply for an Erasmus Mundus scholarship to study in one of the prestigious international joint study programs developed and implemented by a consortium of European and also non-European universities.
Such programmes have the advantage of allowing students to exchange 2 to 3 universities or educational institutions during the postgraduate study programme (from 2 to 4 semesters). This kind of implementation of the study programme allows students to improve the quality of their studies, deepen their specific knowledge, as well as familiarise themselves with various cultural environments and societies. Mobility in these programmes is compulsory.
The part of the Erasmus Mundus programme giving students the option to enrol in a shared doctoral study programme that ended in 2013, had been assigned to the (EU) programme for research and innovation within the Marie Skłodowska-Curie activity.
CEEPUS
Slovenia is one of the founding members (1994) of the Central European Exchange Programme for University Studies (CEEPUS). Currently, the CEEPUS III has been in operation, and it will end in April 2025 and continue in the CEEPUS IV. The basic principles of the programme implementation and its content are like those of the European community’s programme.
The programme promotes equal partnership among members and in inter-university networks and supports with scholarships the realisation of the EU goal to improve mobility. Its added value is in its regional coverage as it enables equal partnership, cooperation and exchange with countries that are not (yet) members of the European Union.
In inter-university networks, short-term mobilities of 1 to 2 months and longer mobilities of 3 to 10 months are facilitated for students, as well as short-term 5-to-10-day mobilities for professors, provided that the academic exchange is evaluated and recognized by the home institution. The networks carry out student and professor mobilities among themselves, organize summer or winter schools, and excursions, and result in the production of professional articles and contributions, various products, and international co-mentorship for bachelor's, master's, and doctoral theses. Since the implementation of the first agreement in 1994, over 82,000 students and staff exchanged within the programme.
The CEEPUS member states are:
Albany, Austria, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Montenegro, Croatia, Kosovo, Hungary, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, and Serbia.
The priority goals of the third programme term focus on common study programmes at a doctoral level and cooperation in the scope of the Strategy EU for the Danube region. The activities of the National CEEPUS office are pursued at CMEPIUS.
Bilateral agreements
Slovenian has entered into bilateral agreements on funding study exchange: Hungary, Italy, Israel, Mexico, Poland, China, Slovakia, Switzerland, Serbia, Germany, and Japan.
The bilateral agreements give Slovenian students the possibility to apply for study exchange as well as scholarships in calls for applications from foreign governments.
Students study visits outside international programmes and bilateral schemes
The Public Scholarship, Development, Disability and Maintenance Fund of the Republic of Slovenia (Fund) is the central institution in the country, operating in the field of scholarships for international mobility.
The Ad futura scholarships are aimed at improving professional skills, providing personnel for development and innovation in various scientific fields, and transferring knowledge and good practices to improve the competitiveness of the Slovenian economy. They encourage the education of Slovenians abroad, foreigners in Slovenia, study visits abroad, competitions abroad, and co-funding of scientific research mobility. Through the implementation of the Fulbright programme, they support the hosting of doctoral students or postdoctoral researchers in the USA and American citizens for hosting in Slovenia. They co-fund postdoctoral studies or research at the European University Institute (EUI).
The Fund provides scholarships for short-term mobility not included in the existing scholarship programmes in the scope of the Scholarships for study visits abroad of upper secondary students and staff. Candidates for this kind of scholarship are students on a study visit at a foreign institution that the student’s home educational institution in Slovenia had validated and recognised as part of the relevant study programme obligation. The Fund has been promoting with this programme the own initiative of students to search and set up new opportunities for mobility outside conventional scopes and programmes and tailored to the student’s study interest.
The public fund makes a call for application in the scope of development agreements each year for candidates to receive scholarships for postgraduate Eastern Balkans students (target regions in the scope of the internationalisation strategy). In cooperation with the Foreign Affairs Ministry, there are scholarships available to study in Slovenia for citizens of different countries recipients of the development support. The citizenship, realm and field of study are specified with each public call separately.
The Ministry of Culture awards every year scholarships for education and training abroad in arts and culture. The call for application usually comes out in April and it is published online on the website of the ministry.
Undergraduate, master's, or doctoral students enrolled at higher education institutions (HEIs) in the Republic of Slovenia under Slovenian higher education teachers (HE teachers) who operate at accredited educational institutions abroad will, according to the call for co-funding of visits by Slovenian professionals from abroad to Slovenian HEIs and research organizations and the academic or scientific visit of students abroad, published by the Fund in the second part of the call, receive scholarships or co-funding for study visits (living expenses, travel costs).
Support for full studies abroad
The Fund supports students who decide to go abroad to acquire a full education through the programme of Ad futura scholarship for study abroad. Scholarships are available to post-graduate candidates. Scholarships cover the fees and living expenses.
Assessment and recognition of knowledge
The competent authority to assess and recognise the level of educational qualification acquired abroad for continuing education in Slovenian is the educational institution on which the candidate wishes to continue education. The competent authority to assess the educational qualification for employment in Slovenia is the Ministry of Education, the seat of the ENIC-NARIC centre.
Procedures are specified by the law on assessment and recognition of education and training, and relevant to international and national regulations and international agreements on recognition of education and training ratified by the Republic of Slovenia. The Assessment and Recognition of Education Act (en) that replaced the recognition procedures in Slovenia came into effect in 2004.
Because of numerous amendments to the school systems and implementation of the Bologna system, the law had to be amended, the provisions on recognition of education and training for employment purposes. The amended act was adopted in 2011.
In the scope of Erasmus+ and CEEPUS programmes, the background for recognition of learning outcomes and obligations realised during mobility is the study agreement between the home institution, hosting institution and a student. The agreement signed before the departure specifies the content the student shall study abroad, the obligations the student will have to complete, and the number of credit points awarded. The description of the scope and type of practical training is included in the agreement on training signed by all interested parties: the home institution and hosting institution at which the student shall do the practical training abroad. The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System or comparable system facilitate the transfer of credit points and recognition of obligations realised abroad.
Academic staff mobility
Improving the mobility abroad of Slovenian HE teachers and education staff has been one of the strategic aims specified with the Strategy for the internationalisation of Slovenian higher education.
The aspiration of higher education staff mobility is supported by the Minimal standards for election for appointment of HE teachers, research staff and higher education staff at HEIs. They specify that candidates should submit alongside applicable bibliography, provable citations in scientific literature, and positive evaluation by reporters for election to a title, evidence of successful participation in the international realm, as well. To be elected to the title of assistant professor or research fellow, candidates must be active in the international realm. Under special conditions for election to the title associate professor or senior research fellow and professor or research counsellor, the criteria state that candidates shall pursue after completing doctoral studies no less than 3 months of continuous research or pedagogical activities at a quality foreign university or research institution.
The exchange of higher education staff is pursued in international programmes, such as Erasmus+ and CEEPUS, bi- or multilateral agreements, programmes or schemes that are coordinated by educational institutions alone or their international offices.
National incentives for higher education staff mobility, co-funded by the European Social Fund
Between 2017 and 2023, the relevant ministry published two public calls primarily intended to provide support for the pedagogical and professional development of Slovenian HE teachers and their networking with teaching and research staff at foreign HEIs. The first public call made over €1.8 million available, while the second public call: Mobility of Slovenian HE teachers 2018–2021, provided up to €2.1 million. In total, 250 mobilities of Slovenian HE teachers were carried out.
Among the goals of the strategy for the internationalization of higher education was also to encourage the mobility of foreign higher education professionals to Slovenia. Through various programmes and measures, Slovenia promotes an increase in the number of visiting foreign professionals and HE teachers at Slovenian HEIs. In addition to the European Erasmus+ program, bilateral agreements, and exchanges through the CEEPUS program network, the relevant ministry, within the implementation of cohesion policy measures, published two public calls for Short and long visits of foreign professionals and HE teachers at Slovenian HEIs in 2016–2018 and Short and long visits of foreign professionals and HE teachers at Slovenian Higher Education Institutions 2019-2022, which lasted until 2023, with a total value of over 5.7 million euros. The calls aimed to integrate foreign experts and HE teachers into the direct teaching process (lectures, exercises, seminars). Over the years, Slovenian HEIs hosted 686 foreign experts and HE teachers.
To support the internationalization of higher education, in 2023 (€0.85 million), the Fund published a call for proposals for co-financing the hosting of Slovenian professionals from abroad at Slovenian HEIs and research organizations, as well as for academic or scientific visits of students abroad. The first part of the call, valued at €0.75 million, is aimed at encouraging the hosting of Slovenian experts who have been working abroad for a long time, at Slovenian HEIs for durations ranging from one to twelve months. The co-financed will cover indirect costs of the visiting expert amounting to €5,400.00 per month, including one-time round-trip travel expenses.
International programmes for the promotion of short-cycle tertiary and higher education teachers
The Erasmus+ programme is the manifested and leading programme for the mobility of teachers and education staff in short-cycle tertiary and higher education. The teachers have the opportunity to perform 8 hours of lectures at an HEI in one of the programme or partner countries, namely as part of the short-term staff mobility of 2 days (5 days from and into partner countries) to 2 months. The education staff and teachers improve their competence in the scope of various trainings (participation at an international week abroad, job shadowing, attending a workshop, study visit) of 2 days to 2 months at any institution abroad that can impart the knowledge and share experience the staff needs to improve the quality of own work, as well as for professional and personal development. In the Erasmus+ programme and its predecessor from 2007 to 2016, this kind of teaching and training was pursued by over 4,100 HE teachers and other education staff.
The CEEPUS is a regional programme for the exchange activities of HE teachers (weekly to monthly) through the implementation of visiting lectures at a HEI in member countries that include a 6-hour pedagogical obligation in all 5 days of mobility. The programme operates based on networks. Individual universities, faculties and their departments set up a network of similar or complementary study content.
Between 2014 and 2020, higher education and other staff completed 5,231 mobilities (2,504 for teaching and 2,727 for training) within the Erasmus+ programme. In the new Erasmus+ programme, 1,213 higher education and other staff participated in mobility for training, and slightly fewer, 673, went on mobility for teaching
Financial compensations
Based on calls for application, it is possible to obtain financial grants that include support for travel costs and grants for individual support to co-funding living expenses. The support for travel costs depends on the distance between the location of the applicant's home institution and the place of activity. The grant for individual support varies depending on the country where the mobility is carried out. Staff opting for green travel may receive additional individual support to cover the costs of the return journey, if necessary.
Recognition and monitoring of staff activities
By being awarded the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education 2021–2027, institutions commit to ensuring that teaching and training activities carried out during mobility are recognized for staff, based on the mobility agreement and by the institutional strategy.