During its 27th regular session, on 3 May 2011, the Council of the Slovenian Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education – NAKVIS officially accredited the doctoral study programme "Pedagogy" (3rd Bologna cycle - PhD), implemented by the Faculty of Arts of the University of Maribor, Slomškov trg 15, SI-2000 Maribor, in accordance with paragraph 7 of chapter 11 of Article 51h and chapter 7 of Article 51p of the Higher Education Act of the Republic of Slovenia (ZVis) (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no. 119/06 – official consolidated text, 59/07 – Scholarship Act of the Republic of Slovenia (ZŠtip), 15/08 - Decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia, 64/08, 86/09 and 62/2010 – Exercise of Rights to Public Funds Act of the Republic of Slovenia (ZUPJS)), and with reference to Article 56 of the valid Criteria for the Accreditation and External Evaluation of Higher Education Institutions and Study Programmes (Merila za akreditacijo in zunanjo evalvacijo visokošolskih zavodov in študijskih programov). During its 40th regular session on 29 January 2019, the Senate of the University of Maribor confirmed the change in the duration of studies from three to four years.

To advance from the first to the second year, the student must complete the compulsory subjects and the obligations of the year in the amount of at least 54 ECTS. Exceptionally, a candidate who, for justified reasons, failed to complete the established study obligations in accordance with the Statute of the University of Maribor may enrol in the second year, whereby advancing from the first to the second year is in no case possible without completing the study unit IRD I. To advance from the second to the third year, the student must complete all the obligations of the first year and the obligations of the second year in the amount of at least 54 ECTS. Exceptionally, a candidate who, for justified reasons, fails to complete the set out study obligations in accordance with the Statute of the University of Maribor may also enrol in the third year, and in no case is it possible to advance from the second to the third year without completing the study unit IRD III. To advance from the third to the fourth year, the student must complete all obligations of the second year and obligations from the third year in the amount of at least 57 ECTS. They must have a doctoral dissertation confirmed by the mentor and the Department of Pedagogy. The student can repeat the year once during the study. Repeating the year is possible in cases defined by the Statute of the University of Maribor. The student can also advance faster if they meet the conditions for such advancement, which are stated in the Statute of the University of Maribor. The student can study in several study programs under the conditions specified in more detail in the Statute of the University of Maribor.

The programme does not contain parts that can be completed individually.

Postdoctoral studies.

Graduates of the postgraduate study programme PEDAGOGY (3rd Bologna cycle - PhD) will acquire general and specialist knowledge, skills, and competences that will qualify them for a career as specialists and experts in various professional fields. Due to the diverse content of the study programme emanating for several different social and behavioural science fields, graduates of the postgraduate study programme PEDAGOGY (3rd Bologna cycle - PhD) will be qualified and eligible to work for public and private educational institutions; scientific and academic research institutions; national and international organizations; governmental and non-governmental organizations and agencies; public administration institutions etc. Furthermore, graduates of the postgraduate study programme PEDAGOGY (3rd Bologna cycle - PhD) will also be qualified and eligible to work in the private sector as independent (freelance) education professionals and specialists. Graduates of the postgraduate study programme PEDAGOGY (3rd Bologna cycle - PhD) will be qualified and eligible for employment in education-and-pedagogy-specific as well as social-and-behavioural-sciences-specific professional areas and fields. Their analytical and communication skills will enable them to supervise projects, adapt to changes and newly arisen circumstances and contexts, and resolve concrete social problems and issues. Graduates of the postgraduate study programme PEDAGOGY (3rd Bologna cycle - PhD) will be qualified and eligible for employment in areas and fields such as: • Education (counselling, courses extracurricular activities …) • Pre-school education (counselling, project management, activities) • Youth work (counselling) • Elderly care • Research (scientific and academic research at institutes and university) • Public administration (society and social activities sector) • Library science (processing library material, consulting, administrations, social activity and event management) • Politics • National and local government • Culture • International relations and cooperation (EU institutions) • Marketing and market research • Public relations • Media and publishing • Communication and information systems management • Organization management (institutes, societies, associations) • Human resource management • Tourism and gastronomy

The examining and grading system is regulated with the Statute of the University of Maribor: http://www.um.si/univerza/dokumentni-center/akti/Akti%20univerze%20v%20Mariboru/Uradno-10.pdf and the Rules on Examination and Grading at the University of Maribor, no. A4/2009-41 AG and its amendments: http://www.um.si/univerza/dokumentni-center/akti/Strani/studij-na-um.aspx. Accordingly, the methods and forms of examining and grading knowledge in the curricula are defined for each individual study unit of an individual study programme. All curricula are published on the web link: http://www.ff.um.si/studenti/studijski-programi/ and in the catalogue of Bologna subjects: https://aips.um.si/PredmetiBP5/main.asp. In addition, students have access to AIPS UM (Academic Information Subsystem of the University of Maribor), which provides insight into the activities of individual students.

At a time of change taking place in all spheres of social life, we are facing many challenges, such as: the rapid growth of knowledge and technology; an aging population; the increasing complexity of life, which requires more knowledge, skills, readiness to master technologies; work instability, including career shifts; managing the challenges of ‘the information society’; flow and integration between individuals and nations in different fields (economy, culture, sport, politics...). All this indicates the need for highly educated and qualified personnel and employment profiles. The 3rd level degree study programme Pedagogy tries to respond to the established needs and the dynamics of change. The programme will contribute to Slovenia's existing capacity to establish a knowledge-based competitiveness. The 3rd level degree study programme Pedagogy follows social, cultural, and economic changes, which dictate not only modern study contents, but also different organizational approaches and modern methods of work, which should ensure a greater connection between theory and practice, greater transfer of acquired knowledge to various areas of professional activity and the associated greater motivation for full-time and effective studying. As part of their studies, students will participate intensively in research projects and gain experience and relevant knowledge to facilitate entry into the labor market. The acquired competencies will offer students the possibility of employment both in Slovenia and in Europe, especially in the framework of jobs related to in-depth knowledge of pedagogical (as well as other social sciences and humanities) skills. With professional flexibility, however, doctoral students will also have many opportunities to succeed in today’s dynamic labor market. The study programme Pedagogy will complement the already existing 3rd level degree study programmes in Slovenia and at the same time exceed some of their limitations. The programme expands the tendencies of the applied approach, which means solving concrete and especially current problems at the local, national and international levels. We think it is especially important that students will be able to gain knowledge, experience, and perform study obligations outside the Faculty of Arts in Maribor - at Slovene and European universities within the prescribed scope of content. At the same time, the multidisciplinarity of the programme will be ensured at the level of visiting professors who will participate in lectures, and with their views and different values and cultural backgrounds will further contribute to overcoming ‘mono-disciplinarity’. In designing the proposed study programme, we took into account as much as possible the general objectives and specific guidelines of the Bologna process. We also used comparative analysis and evaluation of relevant study programmes at foreign universities. As a synthesis of all the above, we can express that the 3rd level degree study programme Pedagogy allows on the one hand the choice of different study centers, while also providing pedagogical knowledge and training for responsible and professionally competent graduates ready to take on the most demanding tasks in education and other fields.

Reasoning: knowledge, analysis and evaluation of pedagogical and broader social science findings; • ability to master research work (quantitative and qualitative) at a high level of complexity; • readiness and ability to deal with the problems of everyday life: reflection, problematization, search for assumptions and implications, etc., • development of communication skills, in particular continuous communication in an international environment, • ability to work in project groups, cooperation, • ability of ethical reflection and deep commitment to professional ethics, • ability to work and create in an international environment, • ability to mentor younger colleagues in institutes, universities, etc., • ability of self-criticism and learning about the importance of lifelong learning; • efficiency in the use of available sources: one’s own creative and intellectual ability, available intellectual capital (colleagues), other tangible and intangible resources (money, equipment, space and time); • developed ability to resolve conflicts through the analysis of social contexts; • highly developed ability of effective written and oral expression (in the form of authorship of articles, discussions, presentations, lectures); • ability to apply social science knowledge to real professional problems.

Subject-specific competencies refer to concrete knowledge that a student will acquire during their studies, and at the same time these will enable them individual subject professional innovation in the field of education, scientific research and their professions. Through the 3rd level degree study programme Pedagogy, the student will acquire the: • ability to properly understand and use pedagogical terminology; • ability to abstract, analyze, and construct pedagogical argumentation; • ability to adequately solve pedagogical problems; • an in-depth understanding of the theoretical and methodological concepts being established in the context of philosophical research. • readiness to use critical self-reflection and general reflection as a basis for the formation of new pedagogical knowledge, • knowledge for the production of pedagogical scientific work using the appropriate methodology of scientific research work (scientific articles, monographs ...), • knowledge for publishing in domestic and foreign research and specialized publications, • ability to transfer pedagogical knowledge in the form of lectures, public controversies, etc., • general interdisciplinary social science knowledge, based on the synthesis of different fields of knowledge; • knowledge that enables them to respond to challenges and needs from the immediate and wider social environment; • knowledge in the field of effective use of information and communication technology for work; • knowledge regarding cooperation with other professional profiles (psychologists, lawyers, etc.).

Candidates who completed the following may apply for the 3rd-cycle (doctoral) study programme in Pedagogy: - A 2nd-cycle (master’s) study programme. - An undergraduate academic study programme adopted prior to 11 June 2004. - A specialisation following an undergraduate professional study programme adopted prior to 11 June 2004. Prior to enrolment, candidates shall pass the following courses corresponding to 30 ECTS credits: Introduction to Pedagogics (6 ECTS), Basics of Didactics (6 ECTS), History of Education (6 ECTS), Quantitative and Qualitative Pedagogical Research (6 ECTS), and Theory of Education (6 ECTS). - A study programme educating students for professions regulated by EU directives or another unified (long-cycle) master’s study programme corresponding to 300 ECTS credits.

The selection of candidates will be based on: - the average study grade (10%), - diploma or master's thesis grades (10%), and - elective exam (80%). Elective exam obligations can be replaced by specialist and research work in the amount of 50% of the exam obligations. The main criteria for research work are publications such as: research monograph; independent research article in a monograph; original or reviewed research articles in journals with an impact factor (JCR) or in journals indexed in SCI, SSCI, or A&HCI databases, and in journals listed by the criteria of the Faculty of Arts for awarding titles. The main criteria for specialist work are: specialist monograph, independent specialist article in a monograph, published specialist papers at conferences, specialist articles and/or peer review of these articles, editing of a monograph or journal and other forms of documented specialist activity. When it is necessary to accept an assessment about the research and specialist work of a candidate for enrolment, it is accepted by the Commission for Study Matters of the Senate of the Faculty of Arts. The Commission for Academic Affairs of the Senate of the Faculty of Arts may, as a condition for the formation of an assessment, also require from the student successfully passing an elective course exam, which is determined for an individual candidate.

Transfers between programmes are possible in accordance with Articles 2 and 3 of the Criteria for Transfers between Study Programmes (UL RS 14/19). Applicants who meet conditions for enrolment in the proposed programme and the conditions for transfer between programmes will be told what year they may enrol in and what missing course units they must complete if they wish to conclude their studies under the new programme. Transfers are possible between programmes: – which guarantee the acquisition of comparable competences on completion and between which at least half the course units under the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) from the first study programme relating to compulsory units of the second study programme may be recognised under the criteria for recognising knowledge and skills acquired prior to enrolment in the programme.

In the process of education at the 3rd level in the study programme Pedagoy, students may have recognized the knowledge and skills acquired before enrolment in various forms of formal education, which the student demonstrates with certificates and other documents that show the content and scope of the student's work. In the process of education at the third level in the study programme Pedagogy, students have also recognized knowledge and skills acquired in the framework of non-formal education or professional work (project, study, publications and other copyright work). Applications for the recognition of knowledge and skills under the first and second paragraphs above will be considered by the Faculty of Arts in accordance with the regulations. The scope and content of the submitted works are evaluated according to the ECTS system up to 30 ECTS. The candidate submits an application for the recognition of knowledge and skills to the Commission for Academic Affairs of the Faculty of Arts. The commission asks the Department of Pedagogy for an opinion and then issues a decision, which is in accordance with the proposal of the Department of Pedagogy of the Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor. Knowledge may be recognized in full, only in part, or not recognized. In the event that they are partially recognized, the student will be assigned a partial exam in the chapters which will be determined by the holder of the course. Criteria for recognition of knowledge and skills according to this item 4.7. is the equivalence of knowledge and skills acquired through formal and non-formal education in relation to the content of the programme or individual courses.

The student completes the 3rd level degree doctoral study programme Pedagogy when they complete all study obligations in the amount of 240 credits (ECTS). It is therefore necessary to pass all the exams determined by the 3rd level degree study programme Pedagogy and to prepare and successfully defend a doctoral dissertation.