Pavel Zgaga: Actor in Reforms of Higher Education

Abstract

The purpose of this biographical chapter is to introduce Pavel Zgaga, his educational career and some important stages of his professional formation. After the general biographical data, the years of growing up and schooling until matriculation at the University of Ljubljana (1970) are presented. Pavel’s first serious engagement with the idea of fundamental change in higher education was conceived and tested during the years of undergraduate study, culminating in a student project of an “alternative” university (1972). After graduating in philosophy and sociology (1975) and first teaching experiences at a technical secondary school, he became University Lecturer in “Philosophy and Ethics” at the Pedagogical Academy of the University of Ljubljana (1978). In the 1980s he became involved in projects aimed at changes in higher education and, more broadly, in the “alternative” movements of the time, which, together with the gradual disintegration of the Yugoslav federation, related to the conceptualization of the new system, in his case mainly the educational system. The 1990s followed, during which he served as Deputy Minister for Higher Education (1992–1999) and Minister of Education and Sport (1999–2000) in the newly established Republic of Slovenia. After his return to the Faculty of Education at the University of Ljubljana, he and his colleagues founded the Centre for Educational Policy Studies (CEPS). In addition to teaching, he continues to devote himself to research work within CEPS until today.