Editing University of Ljubljana (section)

==History==
===Beginnings===
Although certain academies (notably of [[philosophy]] and [[theology]]) were established as [[Jesuit]] higher education in what is now Slovenia as early as the seventeenth century, the first university was founded in 1810 under the ''Écoles centrales'' of the [[First French Empire|French imperial]] administration of the [[Illyrian provinces]]. The chancellor of the university in Ljubljana during the French period was [[Joseph Walland]] (a.k.a. {{ill|Jožef Balant|sl|Jožef_Balant}}, 1763–1834), born in [[Upper Carniola]]. That university was disbanded in 1813, when [[Austrian Empire|Austria]] regained territorial control and reestablished the Imperial Royal Lyceum of Ljubljana as a higher-education institution.

===Quest for a national university===
During the second half of the 19th century, several political claims for the establishment of a [[Slovene language|Slovene-language]] university in Ljubljana were made. They gained momentum in the [[fin de siècle]] era, when a considerable number of renowned [[Slovenes|Slovene]] academians worked throughout [[Central Europe]], while ever more numerous Slovenian students were enrolled in foreign-language universities of the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]], particularly in the [[Austria]]n and [[Czech lands]]. Notable examples are the [[Charles University]] in [[Prague]] and the [[Palacký University Olomouc|University of Olomouc]], the latter of which Slovene [[philosopher]] [[Franc Samuel Karpe]] became the [[Chancellor (education)|chancellor]] of in 1781. In the 1890s, a unified board for the establishment of a Slovenian university was founded, with [[Ivan Hribar]], [[Henrik Tuma]], and [[Aleš Ušeničnik]] as its main leaders. In 1898, the [[Carniola]]n regional parliament established a scholarship{{Clarify|reason=“A scholarship” might mean several different things, and a citation isn’t provided within the paragraph — or the rest of the sub-section.|date=August 2020}} for all students who were planning a [[habilitation]] under the condition that they would accept a post at Ljubljana University when founded. In this way, a list of suitable members of faculty started to emerge.

Nevertheless, unfavorable political circumstances prevented the establishment of the university until the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With the establishment of the short-lived [[State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs]] and the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes]] (Kingdom of Yugoslavia) in 1918, the founding of the university became possible. On November 23, 1918, the first meeting of the Founding Board of Ljubljana University was called, presided over by [[Mihajlo Rostohar]], professor of [[psychology]] at the [[Charles University]] in [[Prague]]. Together with [[Danilo Majaron]], Rostohar convinced the central government of the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes]] in [[Belgrade]] to pass a bill formally establishing the university. The bill was passed on July 2, 1919; in late August, the first professors were appointed, and on September 18, the full professors established the University Council, thus starting the normal functioning of the institution. The first lectures started on December 3 of the same year.

===First decades===
[[File:Univerza v Ljubljani 1929.jpg|thumb|left|University administrative building in 1929]]
In 1919, the university comprised five faculties: law, philosophy, technology, theology and medicine. The seat of the university was in the central [[Congress Square]] of Ljubljana in a building that had served as the State Mansion of Carniola from 1902 to 1918. The building was first designed in 1902 by [[Jan Vladimír Hráský]], and was later remodelled by a [[Czech people|Czech]] architect from [[Vienna]], [[Josip Hudetz]].

In the mid-1920s, the university was renamed the "[[Alexander I of Yugoslavia|King Alexander]] University in Ljubljana" (''Universitas Alexandrina Labacensis'') and continued to grow despite financial troubles and constant pressure from Yugoslav governments’ [[centralist]] policies. In 1941, [[Jože Plečnik]]'s [[National and University Library of Slovenia|National and University Library]] was completed, as one of the major infrastructure projects of the university in the interwar period.

After the [[invasion of Yugoslavia]] in April 1941, the university continued to function under the [[Province of Ljubljana|Italian and Nazi German occupation]], despite numerous problems and interference in its autonomous operation. Several professors were arrested or deported to [[Nazi concentration camps]] and large numbers of students joined either the [[Liberation Front of the Slovenian People]] or the [[Slovenian Home Guard]].

===1945 and later===
Following the end of the Second World War, the first and only foreigner elected to hold the office of chancellor was the [[Czechs|Czech]] professor Alois Král, who had lectured at Faculty of Technical Sciences since 1920 and also held the position of dean thereof four times.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uni-lj.si/files/ULJ/userfiles/ulj/o_univerzi_v_lj/uni_arhiv/Razstave/ULinRektorji2009/Univerza_LJ_Rektorji_ANG-2009.pdf |title=The University of Ljubljana and its rectors |access-date=2011-01-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719233126/http://www.uni-lj.si/files/ULJ/userfiles/ulj/o_univerzi_v_lj/uni_arhiv/Razstave/ULinRektorji2009/Univerza_LJ_Rektorji_ANG-2009.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-19 }}</ref> After the establishment of Communist [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] in 1945, the university was again put under political pressure{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}}: numerous professors were dismissed{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}}, some were arrested and tried{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}}, and the theological faculty was excluded from the university.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} Some of the most brilliant students emigrated{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}}. Nevertheless, the university maintained its educational role and regained a limited degree of autonomy from the mid-1950s onward. It suffered a serious setback in autonomy from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, when some professors were again dismissed by the authorities{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}. In 1979 it was renamed "[[Edvard Kardelj]] University in Ljubljana" after the Communist leader. In 1990, with the fall of Yugoslavia, it was regiven its original name.