The time spent at the university is a great investment in the rest of one's life, Education Minister Maja Makovec Brenčič has said in her message to the students.

The University of Ljubljana remains the biggest in the country. It will welcome more than 9,400 new students this year.

The University of Maribor will welcome more than 5,000 new students, while the University of Primorsko will take nearly 1,600 new students.

The University of Nova Gorica, which is a private university, will accept just over 300 students, while the rest of the higher education institutions with public licences together will take 1,800 new students.

In total, the universities will welcome nearly 18,150 new students this year, almost 450 fewer than in 2016.

Meanwhile, Slovenia has fared rather poorly in a study by the European University Association, which examined the autonomy of universities.

Slovenia placed 25th among 29 education systems in terms of academic autonomy and 24th in faculty autonomy. It placed 18th in terms of financial autonomy and made it to the 16th place in organisation autonomy.