In the academic year 2019/2020, the University of Zagreb celebrates 350 years since its founding in 1669. It is the oldest continuously operating university in Croatia, and one of Europe's oldest universities.
Its history began on 23 September 1669, when the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Croatia, Leopold I Habsburg, issued a decree granting the Jesuit Academy in the Free Royal City of Zagreb the status and privileges of a university institution. The recognition was adopted by the Parliament of the Kingdom of Croatia on 3 November 1671. Therefore, the University considers 1669 as the year of its founding and 3 November is celebrated as University Day.
Since 1671, the studies in Philosophy, which started in 1662, operate legally as Neoacademia Zagrabiensis, a public institution of higher education. There were two other pivotal years in the history of the University of Zagreb:1776- when Empress and Queen Maria Theresa issued a decree founding the Royal Academy of Science (Regia Scientiarum Academia), consisting of three branches or faculties: Philosophy, Theology and Law,and 1874 - when through the merit of Ban Ivan Mažuranić, the establishment of the University was sanctioned by Emperor Franz Joseph thus forming the modern university, which was then named the Royal University of Franz Joseph I.
Having started with three faculties and 200 enrolled students, the university has, in the more than three centuries of its existence, grown to today's 34 constituent units and more than 70,000 students. Since the year 1874, a total of more than half a million students have graduated from the University of Zagreb and its size positions it as one of Europe's top 15 universities. In terms of academic and research excellence, it is Croatia's leading university. As such, it bears the particular responsibility of conserving and improving national intellectual, scientific and cultural heritage, as well as increasing the international visibility and attractiveness of Croatian higher education and science in general.
As a witness to one of its historic moments and its 82ndrector since the year 1874, I wish our University an ongoing bright and prosperous future.
Professor Damir Boras, PhD
rector of the University of Zagreb
