Zagreb School of Medecine

About University The University of Zagreb (1669) is the oldest and biggest university in South-Eastern Europe. As a comprehensive public Central European university, University of Zagreb offers education and research and in all scientific fields (arts, biomedicine, biotechnology, engineering, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences) and a broad spectrum of courses at all study levels, from undergraduate to postgraduate. With 29 Faculties, 3 Art Academies and the University Centre for Croatian Studies it is the flagship educational institution in the country, a place where more than 7900 teachers and 72480 students develop knowledge and acquire skills.

The University excels not only in teaching, but also in research, contributing with over 50 percent to the annual research output in Croatia and 80 percent of scientific productivity of all Croatian universities. The central strategic issue of the future development of the University of Zagreb is for it to be a research oriented institution with teaching of high quality. Accordingly, the focus will be on master and doctoral programs, encompassing all fields of science and art, boosting transdiciplinarity and interdisciplinarity as well as translational research, nurturing the culture of innovation and transfer of knowledge. This should result in better intersectorial harmonization on local and regional levels.

The University of Zagreb is in the process of building a new Campus “Borongaj” which is the biggest investment in Croatian education in the last 150 years, and when it is built (finished) it will be used by more than 20 000 students. The Campus was officially opened on October 12th 2007 and for now it hosts 4 university units: Centre for Croatian Studies, Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Traffic Engineering and Faculty of Economics and Business (only vocational study programmes in economics and business). Five other faculties are also planning to relocate to the Campus in the next few years. Besides the (re)construction of university buildings, Campus will be a home to a sports centre, student residence hall and a number of institutes.

The University of Zagreb School of Medicine (UZSM/ZSM)is the oldest, most respected and largest institution offering medical studies in the Republic of Croatia. 

The decision on its establishment was adopted by the Croatian parliament in January 1917, which is a precedent in the Croatian higher education and testifies that already back then an awareness of the significance of academic medicine on the national ground existed, not only for the development of the medical profession, but also of the entire society. Classes officially started a year later after the inaugural lecture of Drago Perović About the direction of teaching and research in anatomy in the hall of the University of Zagreb.

The first professors were appointed, which was followed by the establishment of the institutes: Department of Anatomy, Morphology‐Biological Institute, Medical‐Chemical Institute, Institute of Physiological, Pathological‐Anatomical Institute, Department of General Experimental Pathology and Pharmacology and Public Health Institute. In the period from 1920 to 1922 most of the clinical departments s were also established. In 1927, the Zagreb School of Medicine had a total of 17 teaching establishments, among which the oldest was the Sisters of Mercy Hospital, and in 1937 that number increased to 19. Most areas of the Faculty were on Šalata, on the area that was intended for the construction of the entire Medical School. In the academic year 1938/39, the total number of stu‐ dents at the Faculty was 921. After the Second World War, there was a need for more doctors, which in the year 1948/49 resulted in a significant increase in the number of students (2855). Since the academic year 1965/66, the practice of limited registration under the terms of an entry exam is established.

The University of Zagreb School of Medicine (UZSM/ZSM) is the oldest, most respected and largest institution offering medical studies in the Republic of Croatia.