New Croatian Law on Higher Education and Science

Croatia has a new Law on Higher Education and Science, which came into effect on Saturday, October 22. It is available (in Croatian) at this link: https://narodne-novine.nn.hr/clanci/sluzbeni/2022_10_119_1834.html. 

These are the main changes for RIT Croatia and other polytechnics & students in the professional study programs (stručni studiji):

1. The legal status of "visoka škola” changes to "veleučilište”. This is strictly a higher education institution change of title and has no other implications.
2. The Croatian degree title our students obtain upon graduation changes from "stručni prvostupnik/prvostupnica (baccalaureus/baccalaurea)" of profession, to "prvostupnik/prvostupnica (baccalaureus/baccalaurea)" of profession. With this change there is now more consistency between undergraduate and graduate degrees, as well as university and professional degree program titles. 
3. The new law now allows for students who complete undergraduate professional programs (this is the type of programs our students complete upon graduation – stručni studiji) to apply for university graduate programs (sveučilišni studiji) in Croatia. Universities will be able to choose if they wish to make this option available, and define enrollment criteria, but the option is now legally recognized, which was previously not the case.