PM Cerar emphasized that the government's intention is to stimulate Slovenia's science community and universities, which play a crucial role in the country's development. PM Cerar therefore said he supported the forming of a university task force, which would be in regular contact with the government and relevant ministries. Such communication would enable a simpler way of solving emerging problems.

The Chancellor of the University of Ljubljana and the President of the Chancellors Conference, Ivan Svetlik, agreed with the PM's proposal. Mr. Svetlik is also convinced that a big step forward could be made, if they were to successfully turn the current university funding trend around.

Universities continuously without funds
Nataša Lang reported for Radio Slovenia that the financial situation at the three public universities has been causing concern for quite some time now. More than half the members of the University of Ljubljana are operating in the red. The University of Maribor receives five times less funding than it actually needs, while the University of Primorska is in the most difficult financial situation.

The Chancellor of the University of Primorska, Dragan Marušič, stressed that the state doesn't fund some of its programs from the 3rd year onwards: "The truth is that we get by without having to fire anybody, because we cover the deficit from our part-time studies."

In the past part-time study programs were an important funding source for regular study programs. However today, with the abundance of other co-financed studies and smaller generations of students, there are less part-time study programs. The vice-chancellor of the University of Maribor, Mihaela Koletnik, says that their university has decided to cut the number of students and programs because of the austerity measures. Another reason was the harmonization process of the number of student places with the actual student demand: "In the last three years we have cut study programs for which there was very little demand. Carrying out those programs wouldn't pay off."

Individual faculties at the University of Ljubljana are already preparing more feasible study programs. Chancellor Svetlik said the university would offer less student places for the new study year. Mr. Svetlik also commented the assurances given by the Minster of Education, Stanka Setnikar Cankar, that this year higher education institutions can expect the same amount of funds from the budget as last year: "Well, that's little consolation to us, as we've already used up all our reserves for covering the deficits which have been occurring because of the small amount of funds we get, especially for our 5th year study programs."

T. K. B., Nataša Lang (Radio Slovenija); translated by K. J.