Pharmacy and mechanical engineering faculties to get new facilities
Ljubljana, 8 August - The University of Ljubljana has announced that the faculties of pharmacy and mechanical engineering, which have been grappling with serious space constraints in the city centre for years, have been granted construction permits to build new facilities. By 2030 they are expected to become part of the Brdo Campus, one of four campuses in the capital.
Ljubljana
The Faculty of Pharmacy (UL FFA) and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering UL FS. of the University of Ljubljana have obtained building permits for their new buildings. Computer simulation of UL FS.
Photo: University of Ljubljana
Ljubljana University rector Gregor Majdič estimates that the construction of the two new buildings, meant to start in 2025, should resolve the university's most pressing space issues by around 2030.
The Faculty of Pharmacy currently has over 1,500 students and nearly 200 staff. While an extension was added to its main building in 2000, this only partially alleviated space issues. The various sites the faculty operates from, including rented premises, do not meet its teaching and research requirements. The new building will provide them with an appropriate range of laboratories and lecture halls.
Demand for the graduates of the Faculty of Pharmacy is already high, and is expected to grow further in the coming years due to expansions in Slovenia's pharmaceutical industry.
The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering also faces significant space challenges. Its current premises were constructed in 1972, when the faculty had 600 students and around 150 staff. Today, it has over 1,500 students and more than 430 employees.
The faculty has been spread across five locations for decades, most of which are no longer suitable for modern needs. While it currently has 13,200 square metres of space, the new Brdo facility will provide more than double that area.
According to a report by the Delo newspaper, the two faculties are expected to relocate from their dilapidated and seismically vulnerable Aškerčeva Street premises to the new buildings within four years. The estimated total cost was EUR 106 million in 2020. However, as prices have risen significantly since, the actual investment value is likely to be higher, the newspaper noted.
While the new Faculty of Mechanical Engineering is expected to be built with the aid of EU funds, the majority of funding for the new Faculty of Pharmacy building will come from a law ensuring financial resources for investments in Slovenia's healthcare system until 2031.
The Brdo Campus area, located in the western part of the capital, is already home to the University of Ljubljana's Biotechnical Faculty, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, and Faculty of Computer and Information Science.
The announcement comes after ground was broken in February for a new Faculty of Medicine campus in Vraz Square near the UKC hospital in what is a EUR 84.4 million project co-financed from the EU recovery and resilience plan and meant to be completed by 2026. What is more, a EUR 80 million contract for the construction of a new Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, also expected to be completed by 2026, was signed in June.
A major education project was moreover announced in May, when Prime Minister Robert Golob said Slovenia would get a third Faculty of Medicine at the University of Primorska, with the start of enrolment already planned for 2027. Maribor got its first Faculty of Medicine in 2003, while Ljubljana's dates back to 1919.