Education in Slovenia: schools, the Splošna matura and university entry
A guide to schools in Slovenia, the nine-year basic school, the gimnazija, the Splošna matura and university admission.
In short
Education in Slovenia is organised nationally by the Ministry of Education, and the same school system applies in the whole country. Schooling is compulsory and free in public schools, and it is taught in Slovenian, with Italian or Hungarian used in schools of the two ethnically mixed areas where those communities live. Pupils spend nine years in basic school, then choose between general, technical and vocational programmes at upper secondary level. The general programme, the gimnazija, ends with the Splošna matura, an external exam that is the main route to university. This guide gives a general overview and does not replace the information published by the national examination centre and the universities.
School stages
- Preschool: Optional kindergartens (vrtci) for children from about one year old up to school age. The programme is run by municipalities and private providers.
- Basic school (osnovna šola): A single-structure school of nine years for pupils aged about six to fifteen, divided into three cycles of three years. Pupils learn Slovenian, mathematics, a first foreign language from an early grade, history, geography, sciences, art, music and sport. At the end of the ninth grade there are national assessments in several subjects.
- Upper secondary school: After basic school, pupils choose a programme:
- Gimnazija: A general programme of four years that ends with the Splošna matura and prepares students for university.
- Technical programmes: Four-year programmes that end with the Poklicna matura (vocational matura), which also gives access to many higher education programmes.
- Vocational programmes: Shorter programmes of two to three years for a trade, with the option to continue later to a technical course.
Grades and the Splošna matura
Marks in basic and secondary school run from 1 to 5, where 1 is a fail and 5 is excellent. The Splošna matura is taken at the end of the gimnazija and also by others who qualify to sit it. It is a national exam, prepared and marked outside the school by the State Examination Centre (RIC), so students across the country take the same papers on the same days. Every candidate sits three compulsory subjects, which are Slovenian (or Italian or Hungarian in the areas of those communities), mathematics and a foreign language, and two elective subjects chosen from a list such as history, physics, biology, chemistry, geography, sociology and others. Subjects can be taken at a basic or a higher level, and the exams combine written papers, an internal part and an oral or practical part depending on the subject. The result is a total number of points that universities use for admission.
University entry
Slovenia has several public universities, the oldest and largest being the University of Ljubljana, which was founded in 1919. The others are the University of Maribor, the University of Primorska in Koper and the University of Nova Gorica, and there are also private higher education institutions. Programmes follow the Bologna structure of bachelor's, master's and doctoral studies. When the number of applicants is higher than the number of places, faculties rank candidates using points from the Splošna matura and from the marks of the last years of secondary school, and some programmes, for example in the arts, sport and architecture, also require an aptitude test. Applicants with foreign certificates have to have them recognised before they enrol.
Languages and studying abroad
Slovenian is the official language, and Italian and Hungarian have official status in the ethnically mixed areas. Most young Slovenes learn English from an early age, and a second foreign language such as German, Italian or French is also common. Students who want to study abroad or in English-taught programmes often prepare for international tests such as IELTS and TOEFL, or take the SAT or the IB Diploma.
Practising on GetMyMockTest
These are practice questions we wrote for study. They are not the official exams, and we do not claim they match an exam's current format. Free practice for Slovenia:
- Splosna Matura: mathematics, Slovenian language and literature, and history of Slovenia, with timed tests and flashcards. These questions cover general upper-secondary topics.
- Poklicna Matura: applied mathematics, English for technical and professional purposes, and fundamentals of economics and commerce, with timed mock tests and flashcards.
- Slovenian general knowledge: history and politics, geography and nature, and science, arts and culture, with a source for each question.
- SAT, IELTS, TOEFL and IB Diploma: international exams that some students in Slovenia also take.