Slovenia

Political framework for bilateral cooperation in education and research

Slovenia has been a member of the EU and of NATO since spring 2004. The country will assume the EU presidency in the first half of 2008. The fact that Slovenia was eligible to join the Eurozone on 1 January 2007 is a further reflection of the stability of the country's political and economic structures. 

Since the elections in 2004, two ministries have been responsible for research and education policy: the Ministry of Education and Sport and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology.

Slovenian R&D activities are characterized by the relatively high level of investment in R&D measures (1.66% in 2008) as well as the high quality of R&D activities in publicly financed institutes with well established international collaborations.
Compared to other Central and Eastern European countries, the level of brain drain is low. Tax incentives are in place to boost employment among qualified young scientists in R&D companies in the long term. Efforts are being made to gear public R&D funding more strongly towards applied research.
Slovenia uses financial resources from the European Structural Fund to create an atmosphere of innovation, with the aim of strengthening the entire private sector. This is being done through the establishment of regional and national networks of technology parks, incubators, and centres of excellence.

The basis for further development in Slovenia is the National R&D Programme 2006-2010, which has the following thematic focuses: information and communication technology, materials research, nanotechnology, innovation technology, technologies for sustainable development as well as health and life sciences. A reform programme for the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy targets has been in place since October 2005.

Germany and Slovenia both participate in the European project Southeast-European-ERA-NET (SEE-ERA-NET). This initiative has the aim of integrating South Eastern European countries, especially those of the Western Balkans, into the European Research Area (ERA) by supporting and coordinating bilateral and multilateral activities in the 14 countries that participate in ERA-NET. An important goal of this EU project is to include the new EU member states Bulgaria and Romania in the cross-regional R&D collaborations with the countries of the Western Balkans, for which Slovenia is an important role model.

The Slovenian education system has been fundamentally restructured in recent years. Slovenia now boasts an efficient and modern education system. Approximately 90,000 students are enrolled in the country's universities - one of which is private and three are state-run. The Higher Education Act was amended in June 2006. In late 2006, Slovenia presented its National Report on the development of the Bologna Process.

Key areas of German-Slovenian cooperation

Between 2000 and 2004, the priority areas of scientific and technological cooperation that received BMBF support were information and communication technology as well as nanotechnology, and in addition biotechnology, medicine, and production technology.
Currently, the life sciences are particularly important in the collaboration between the two countries. For example, a Virtual Institute of "Industry-Relevant Molecular Life Sciences" (INREMOS) is to be established in a joint effort. Its aim is to support industry-relevant cooperation.
There was an intensive exchange of experiences between Germany and Slovenia on the subject of the reform of vocational education and training. Among other things, this resulted in a cooperation project to introduce the occupation 'mechatronics technician' in Slovenia.

A highlight of bilateral cooperation

The Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology and the National Institute of Biology in Slovenia jointly held a summer school on the subjects of plant genome research and bioinformatics in Ljubljana in August 2005, with financial support from the ministries of both countries. The success of this event is documented in the publication "European Training and Networking Activity, Plant Genomics and Bioinformatics Expression Micro Arrays and Beyond - a Course Book".
This summer school was the start of what is to become an EU-financed series of summer schools, to take place alternately in Slovenia and Germany, to begin with. The second summer school was held in September 2006.

Funding for collaborations with Slovenia

In view of the EU's enlargement, the BMBF published a special funding instrument for scientific and technological cooperation with Central, Eastern, and South Eastern European countries in spring 2004. Under the programme "International Cooperation in Education and Research; Central, Eastern, and South Eastern European Region" (which is a so-called regional call for proposals), financial resources are made available for preparatory projects in the areas of applied research, development, and education, with the aim of preparing further submissions under current BMBF funding programmes and the 7th EU Research Framework Programme.
Funding is also given to measures for the elaboration of concepts to establish joint research bases. The aim of these joint research bases is to forge closer links between the staff, organization, and funding structures of Slovenian and German research institutions and corporate research activities.

As part of the BMBF initiative to promote Germany as a key location of research, funding is provided for initiatives that present the attractiveness of Germany and its research environment to important Central, Eastern, and South Eastern European partner countries.

Germany cooperates closely with Slovenia via the BMBF's funding programmes.