University of Zilina

The University of ilina was established on October 1, 1953 as the College of Railways in Prague. In 1959 the institution changed its name to the University of Transport and moved to ilina. As a result of the increasing role of communications within the curriculum and research orientation of the University, the name was amended to the University of Transport and Communications in 1980.

Following wide-ranging changes at the beginning of the nineties, it was renamed again to the University of ilina pursuant to the law passed by the Slovak National Council on November 20, 1996. This change reflected the Universitys educational restructuring, which is based on effective theoretical and professional preparation, communications skills, use of information telecommunication technologies, marketing, economics and law emphasizing the future demands of customers.

The University of ilina is the only university located in the northwest region of the Slovak Republic. In terms of prof essional profile, the University is unique in Slovakia as it has a long tradition of providing education in the fields of transport and communications. Furthermore, during the last period of development the University became an educational institution with a broad profile in many areas of science, technology, economics, management, and recently, educational and natural sciences.

The University enjoys a very close cooperation with transport, telecommunication and industrial companies as well as public and private institutions across the region and country. Further, the University contributes to the technological and operational development of transport and telecommunication systems, networks and services as the main conditions for the future economic, and the social development of the Slovak Republic.

The University of ilina provides education at all three levels of higher education both in full-time and part-time forms (Bachelor's degree, Engineer/Master's degree and Doctoral degree). Finally, all of the Universitys faculties provide a supplementary course of pedagogical studies for students and graduates.
Over the last 57 years more than 52 000 students have graduated from the University; 1662 of them have been awarded the Ph.D. degree.

The University has established contacts with many universities abroad. Professors and research workers at the University participate in international educational and research projects. These include the European Union projects TEMPUS, COPERNICUS, COST, LLP/ERASMUS, Leonardo da Vinci, than CEEPUS, National Scholarship Programme, DAAD. The academic staffs are actively involved in cooperations within the EU´s 6 th and 7 th Framework programmes.
The University envisages an establishment and gradual development of new courses and curricula reflecting advances in science and technology. Development of life-long learning and continuing education programmes will become one of the main tasks in the near future. Continuing and distance education at the University will focus on the demands and requirements of Slovak industry and the public and social sectors of services.