University of Zagreb

   Faculty of Kinesiology

Zagreb, Croatia

The Faculty of Kinesiology is an academic, educational and research institution of higher education in the Republic of Croatia, one of the younger members of the University of Zagreb. The subject-matter core content of the old undergraduate baccalaureate and postgraduate Master’s and Doctoral degrees, as well as of the new integral graduate university Master’s and the postgraduate Doctoral studies is kinesiology, a relatively young science. It is an empirical transdisciplinar general science field that uses primarily an experimental approach in its comprehensive investigation of principles and regularities of human movement or physical activity and exercise, where humans are observed as integral bio-psycho-social beings. It also investigates the regularities of the management of the systematic, goal-orientated exercise and training processes, which include systematic motor learning, exercising and mastering of motor skills and knowledge in the domains of physical education, sport, physical recreation and kinesitherapy. Further, it is focused on determining and modelling the influence of programmed exercise and sporting activities on any consequent, expected and planned changes in the human psychosomatic and social status.   

From the very beginning the Faculty has accepted, encouraged and advocated for the orientation that the mission of the higher education is manifested in the symbiosis of educational (professional training) and elite research work. Graduated kinesiologists, with the professional title of teachers of PE, and future masters of kinesiology, with the professional title of Master of Kinesiology in Education, actualize their knowledge and skills by performing all forms of teaching in the educational system of the Republic of Croatia, from the pre-school level to the higher education level. Within the area of competitive sports they manage sports activities for selected groups of children, teenagers and adult athletes. They also organize physical recreation for youngsters and adults and implement kinesitherapeutic procedures as well as sports programmes for the persons with disabilities. They are qualify to establish scientifically the process of exercising and to assess the expected kinesiological effects produced in physical education teaching, as well as the training effects reflected in improvements of sport performance and achievements. 

Modern research methodology and sophisticated technology utilized in the analyses, design and evaluation of exercise processes, are the foundations of research and scientific work, which makes the Faculty the central and leading Croatian institution in the domain of kinesiology. Research interests are focused on the enrichment of the kinesiological body of knowledge and on the insights into numerous factors influencing the management of the exercise programmes in schools, sport clubs, recreation and rehabilitation centres. Identification, assessment and evaluation of changes in the space of human characteristics, abilities and motor knowledge and skills, induced by the managed, goal-oriented processes of exercising, are executed from the versatile biological, psychological, social, educational, philosophic, ethical, economical, and cultural aspects. These changes are induced, observed and analysed from the cellular level to widest socio-cultural levels.   

University of Zagreb

A Short History of the University

© by Darko Zubrinic, Zagreb (1995)

The first university institution in Croatia was founded by the Dominicans in Zadar in 1396 as the `studium generale' for theology. Its international character can be seen from the fact that one of its first students had been fra Bonaventura of Ferrara (inscribed in 1396). In its earliest period it had twenty students from Italy, two from Poland and one from Germany. This institution had the privilege of conferring doctorates of theology. It existed until 1806, when it was canceled during the French (Napoleon's) occupation. Unfortunately, in that period many documents witnessing the early history of the Croatian University had been destroyed.

Leopold I., the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, issued a Diploma in 1669, by which the status and privileges of a university were accorded to the Jesuit Academy in the Royal Free City of Zagreb. This represents the beginning of the University of Zagreb. The Jesuits also started the first grammar school in Zagreb in 1607. Croatia was at that time one of the states of the Holy Roman Empire and bore the old name: the Kingdom of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia.

Let us mention some of the Universities that were founded before and after the Universities of Zadar and Zagreb: Bologna 1219, Padova 1220, Paris 1220, Oxford 1249, Lisabon 1290, Rome 1303, Cambridge 1318, Florence 1321, Praha 1348, Krakow 1364, Vienna 1365, Erfurt 1379, Heidelberg 1385, ZADAR 1396, Rostock 1419, Glasgow 1453, Tubingen 1477, Uppsala 1477, Copenhagen 1479, Mainz 1494, Edinburgh 1582, Dublin 1591, Lwow 1661, ZAGREB 1669, LEPOGLAVA (1674-1782), Göttingen 1736, Erlangen 1743, Moscow 1775, Berlin 1809, Saint Petersburg 1819, London 1825, Helsinki 1826, Kiev 1834, Athens 1834, Tokyo 1881, Constantinople 1900, etc.

The Jesuit Academy was oriented mainly to theology, philosophy, law and classical philology. From 1747 there was also a chair for controversistic, aiming to study all the open questions existing between the Eastern and Western Church, conditioned obviously by the presence of Pravoslavs (Orthodox Christians) in Croatia.

The Paulines from Lepoglava near Varazdin organized a three year study of philosophy in 1656 (with lectures on logic, mathematics, physics, metaphysics and ethics) and a four year study of theology in 1683. By the rescripts of Pope Clement X in 1671 and Emperor Leopold I in 1674 it became `studium generale' with a right of conferring doctorates. The Pauline order was canceled in 1786 by a decision of Austrian archduke Joseph II. The huge building of the Lepoglava Puline Academy, which represents one of the most important monuments of sacral architecture in Croatia, was transformed into prison in 1854. It was a tremendous loss for Croatian education and culture.

During the French rule in Dalmatia (1805-1813) the Gymnasium of Zadar was transformed to Lyceum in 1806. After the Illyrian province had been founded it became a Central school with lectures on seven academic disciplines from engineering to medicine and law, having the right of conferring academic titles. So, this institution acted as a university with seven faculties, but unfortunately it was canceled in 1811.

The University in modern sense, including science and engineering, was founded in Zagreb in 1874, thanks to the efforts of the great Croatian Maecenas bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer (born in Osijek, 1815-1905). It had three faculties: Law, Theology and Philosophy, from which soon many new faculties developed. Ivan Mazuranic, a great Croatian poet and statesman (1814-1890), was the Ban (Viceroy) and the president of the Croatian government when the University was opened.

J.J. Strossmayer became internationally known for his speech against the dogma of papal infallibility at the Vatican synod held in 1869-70. He was also one of the originators of the unhappy idea of Yugoslavia, a common state for southern Slavs to live in. He founded the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zagreb in 1866, long before Yugoslavia was created as a state (first as the Kingodom of Serbs, Croats, Slovenes in 1918, and then renamed to Yugoslavia in 1929). These are the oldest scientific and educational institutions in the south-east Europe.
Additional information about J.J. Strossmayer.

The Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts was renamed to the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (HAZU) first in 1941 and then again in 1991. It is interesting to note that in former Yugoslavia all the six republics and two Serbian autonomous provinces had their own national Academies, except Croatia, where the term `Yugoslav' was traditionally kept.

Let us mention that the first president of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, founded in 1887, was a Croat - prof. Josip Pancic (1814-1888, a botanist, born in the Croatian town of Bribir).

We cannot avoid the names of three Czech professors - Karel Zachradnik (1848-1922, mathematics), Gustav Janecek (1848-1929, chemistry) and Vinko Dvorzak (1848-1922, physics) who were invited to initiate the educational and scientific work. The University of Zagreb owes them a great deal for its development.

The University of Zagreb today

Today our University is a huge educational and scientific organization comprising 25 faculties and colleges, some 3000 professors and teaching assistants and some 35,000 students (we had 5400 students and postgraduates in 1938). It has a rich cooperation with foreign institutions, but needs a further support in this direction. Great importance has the movement called `Alma Mater Croatica', whose wish and aim is to unite our former students, now scientists scattered about many universities and research centers on the West. `Alma Mater Croatica' is the symbolic name for the Zagreb University.

Except in Zagreb, there are very young university centers in Osijek, Split and Rijeka. Parts of the University of Zagreb are in Varazdin and Slavonski Brod.

There is an army of as many as 45,000 specialists educated in Croatia, working today mostly in western countries. On one hand, it points out clearly the quality of our Universities, and on the other, the political and economic conditions in Croatia within former Yugoslavia.

The University library, founded in 1606, has about 2,500,000 books.

A great care is devoted to the living standard of students. About 6000 students live in student dormitories and subsidized student restaurants serve about 20,000 meals daily.

The Zagreb University, and our faculty in particular, had many foreign students, primarily from the developing countries.

Very rich international cooperation, initiated by prof. Ivan Supek in 1971, has been established through scientific seminars and meetings held at the Inter-university Center for Postgraduate Studies in Dubrovnik. In the aggression of Serbia and Montenegro on Croatia the Center was totally destroyed (1991). It is worth noting that this object, together with its library comprising 30,000 volumes, has been the first to be destroyed in Dubrovnik. These carefully chosen targets reveal one of the major aims of the Serbian aggression in 1991-1995. For more information see LIBROCIDE and [Wounded Libraries in Croatia]

Lecture rooms for the congress

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Last modified: 03/04/07

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