The University of Nova Gorica is an institution of higher education that provides undergraduate and graduate study programmes and conducts scientific research. It started its operations in the 1995/96 academic year as the School of Environmental Sciences, the first international graduate school in Slovenia, founded by the Municipality of Nova Gorica and the Jožef Stefan Institute of Ljubljana. Due to the introduction of new study programmes and the expansion of scientific research activities, the School was reorganised in 1998 and renamed Nova Gorica Polytechnic. In 2006 the institution changed its status and became the University of Nova Gorica. It was founded by the Municipality of Nova Gorica, the Municipality of Ajdovščina, the Jožef Stefan Institute and the Scientific Research Centre of the Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Today the University of Nova Gorica provides education at seven schools: the School of Environmental Sciences, the School of Engineering and Management, the School of Applied Sciences, the School of Humanities, the School of Viticulture and Enology, the School of Arts, and the Graduate School, which offers the following graduate study programmes: Environmental Sciences, Physics, Karstology, Comparative Studies of Ideas and Cultures, Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology, and Economics and Techniques for the Conservation of the Architectural and Environmental Heritage. Research is conducted by five laboratories (the Laboratory for Environmental Research, the Laboratory for Astroparticle Physics, the Laboratorij of Organic Matter Physics, the Laboratory for Multiphase Processes and the Materials Research Laboratory); three centres (the Centre for Atmospheric Research, the Centre for Systems and Information Technologies and the Wine Research Centre); and the Institute for Cultural Studies. The modern library holds textbooks and professional literature that are available to researchers, students and the general public. The University of Nova Gorica Book Publishing is responsible for issuing textbooks, lecture notes, collections of scientific papers and other works.

A vital link between local economy and higher education has been forged by the establishment of the Primorska Technology Park, which integrates technologically innovative companies that facilitate the transfer of knowledge and development initiatives to the entrepreneurial environment.

Mindful also of the importance of stable and foreseeable financial resources for the implementation of higher education, the University of Nova Gorica has furthermore established the Edvard Rusjan Foundation, whose mission is to ensure high-quality and sustainable development of the University’s activities.

Through a wide array of complementary and mutually enriching activities, the University of Nova Gorica strives to achieve and provide the highest quality education and scientific research as well as ensure their comprehensive integration into local, national and international spheres.

The University of Nova Gorica participates in international cooperation with similar institutions around the world. It takes special care to promote multidisciplinary research and programmes designed to build partnerships between industry and academia, with the hope of creating a better society both at local and global levels.

For additional information, please visit us at http://www.ung.si