Its position and
role in northeastern Slovenia assures Maribor of a
well-developed educational system. Maribor has a long
tradition in education (Maribor actually had its first
parish school back in 1224, well before it was even first
established as a town).
Of utmost importance for Maribor, as well as for
the entire region, is its high-quality secondary school (Gymnasium),
established in 1758; many esteemed Slovene intellectuals
were educated there. The tradition of quality continued.
In 1782 the town got its main high school. In 1812 a
teachers' training college was established. In 1861 this
was expanded into a two-year program, and a few years
later into a four-year secondary school, to be followed
in 1888 by a women's teacher training school.
The advancement of
modern technology created a need for a diversified
secondary school ("realka"), devoted
to the study of the natural sciences. The principles
of economical farming were introduced in 1872 in a
school devoted to the study of fruit-growing and
viticulture.
With the transfer
of the seat of the Diocese to Maribor in 1859, the town
got its first school of higher learning devoted to
the study of theology The period after World War II
brought a desirable flexibility to the approach to
education in Maribor, namely, that the overall level of
education should keep pace with the demands of modern
society and technology. Responding to these needs, the
educational system in Maribor underwent much renovation
and expansion.
With the city's
industries undergoing an accelerated development, a need
for new workers of various professional skills was
created. With the arrival of new families in Maribor, a
need arose for the expansion of the existing school
system. The curricula were overhauled, modern school
buildings were erected, and daycare centres for
pre-school children were established.
In 1990 there were
in Maribor a total of 28 elementary and
20 secondary schools, with 13 large day-care centres
and 41 smaller, local centres.
Presently, secondary
schools offer a wide variety of programs in the
humanities, pedagogy, economics, agriculture, textile
technology, business, catering, metallurgy, health care,
furniture technology, construction, railroad maintenance,
chemistry, electronics, with computer sciences,
mechanical engineering, with metallurgy, and music and
ballet.
Towards the end of
the 1950s it became obvious in Maribor that for its
economic and social development it needed a greater
number of more highly skilled specialists. This is why
from 1959 on, such separate institutions of higher
learning as the schools of technology, commerce,
pedagogy, law, agriculture, and stomatology were founded.
In 1975, they became parts of The University of Maribor.
Today, the
constituent Faculties of The
University of Maribor are Faculty of Business and Economics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computer
Science and Information Technology , Faculty of Civil Engineering,
Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering,
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,
Faculty of Organizational Sciences,
Faculty of Education, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Agriculture,
College of Nursing Studies
as well as The School of Business Management in Kranj.
Its constituent members also include the University
Library and the Computer
Centre.