Let the new academic year be safe

At the beginning of the new academic year, we kindly invite you to read the letter of the Minister of Education, Science and Sports dr. Igor Papič and Minister of Health Danijel Bešič Loredan, in which they express their thanks for your tolerance and patience as well as responsibility and understanding during the difficult period of the last two years due to the consequences of the COVID-19 epidemic, and urge you to follow the recommended hygiene measures and recommendations to prevent the transmission and spread of the infection in education premises.

In order to ensure a safe educational environment in the new academic year, we kindly ask you to follow the following recommendations:

only healthy students should attend lectures,
self-testing for infection with SARS-CoV-2 and
use of the #OstaniZdrav application according to the recommendations.

IMPORTANT: Students in Slovenia have 10 free self-tests per month available for pick-up at a pharmacy based on a health card, ID or student card/certificate of schooling.

In case of suspicion of infection, please act in accordance with the recommendations of the NIJZ Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) - key information | www.nijz.si.

In case of POSITIVE TEST, you should also inform the Student Affairs Department of the Faculty of Tourism at referat.ft@um.si.

We thank you in advance for your cooperation and contribution to ensuring a safe educational environment and wish you a successful start to the new academic year!

The University of Maribor (International Relations Office) organizes a Slovene language course for future international students. The course will be online and will take place on VZUMoodle.

All you have to do to join the classes is to register at the following website with your email address: https://vzumoodle.um.si/?lang=en. After the registration, you will receive a confirmation to the email address you have to confirm. After then, you can access the VZUMoodle and material at the link below: https://vzumoodle.um.si/course/view.php?id=21

The key to entering the group is: scfisum22

The online Slovene language course will start on September 21 (Wednesday) at 12.00. You will have enough time to check the lessons and do exercises. There will be two lessons every week. When you finish the first one (and if the test is successful), it will open the second one.

Students who successfully complete the first four lessons until October 6 can join lessons in conversation with the teacher. If you have any questions regarding the Slovene language course, feel free to contact us at erasmus@um.si.

Please note that the above online course is not a substitute for the course that will be organized in Brežice for first-year students studying in the Slovenian language.

We want to inform you that the timetable for the winter semester 2022/23 has been published.

There are possible minor changes to the timetable, as coordination with the classrooms is still ongoing.

Timetable available at:

Wise Timetable (wise-tt.com)

Between 5 and 7 September the Faculty of Tourism held Welcome Days for its English-programme students in Ljubljana. The objective was to provide students with critical information for a smooth transition to academic life and an effective integration into the new environment.

It has been almost four years since the Faculty of Tourism of the University of Maribor has launched two Tourism programmes in the English language for part-time students. Our international students, who are currently predominantly Indian, are enrolled into Contemporary Tourism Practices and Tourism Destinations and Experiences, a Professional Bachelor and Masters programme, respectively. Both programmes are delivered in Ljubljana, at the Faculty’s dislocated unit, the Ljubljana student campus (ŠOU Kampus).

Experience has shown that these students, who come from a different cultural background, face certain challenges both on their academic path and in adjusting to life here. The three-day event was thus directed primarily to freshmen, to facilitate their smoother transition to studies in Slovenia.

On Day 1, students received core information about the study process at the University of Maribor and thus the Faculty of Tourism. We explained students’ rights and obligations, the ECTS system, student representation, extracurricular activities in Ljubljana, study and work exchanges, and much more. Day 2 was orientation. A team of the Faculty’s staff, together with the appointed Student Buddies, took students around Ljubljana, visiting among others the Central Economic Library to enrol and the Students Health Centre. Day 3 delivered workshops where freshmen tested their formal correspondence, academic writing and Moodle skills. Students were also given a broad introduction to IT services for students by the UM Computer Centre.

This newly obtained skills and information package will provide for a smoother transition of international students to academic life in Slovenia, paving the way for their academic success.

Dear Faculty of Tourism University of Maribor students!

Our Faculty is this year in the process of its strategy renovation. We want to design a modern strategy up to 2030, so the students will get the promised study experience, and our research groups will contribute to the scientific field of tourism.

Hence, we invite you to help us build our shared strategy. Please, answer the survey and contribute your ideas – click on the link: https://forms.office.com/r/LVqeVMFyst

Thank you for creating our future!

Faculty of tourism UM Strategy Team

Open positions at Faculty of Tourism:

SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE | EURAXESS (europa.eu)

RESEARCHER | EURAXESS (europa.eu)

Please send your application, along with proof that you meet the requirements, via e-mail to prijava.ft@um.si by September 17 2022 by 12:00.

We are publishing a call for student apartments of the Faculty of Tourism of the UM for the academic year 2022/23 in Brežice. The tender is available HERE (in Slovene).

More about accommodation options in Brežice: https://www.ft.um.si/bodoci-studenti/studentsko-zivljenje/#bivanje

A scientific monograph, Travel Writing for Tourism and City Branding: Urban Place Writing Methodologies, co-authored by our colleague Assoc. Prof. Dr Jasna Potočnik Topler will be published early next year by the prestigious British publishing house Routledge.

Pre-order of the publication is already possible at the website of the publishing house Routledge at a favourable price, and therefore we also publish a discount flyer.

The mentioned scientific monograph combines several years of research, project and pedagogical work of the authors, and it was intensively written by Dr Charlie Mansfield (University of Plymouth) and Dr Jasna Potočnik Topler (Faculty of Tourism UM) for the past four years.

Our Faculty of Tourism participates in many scientific and applied international and also Slovene projects. The cooperation of the faculty with stakeholders in the local environment is crucial, as this creates many opportunities for students and employees to co-create the local environment.

The UM Faculty of Tourism has a sustainable approach, and in the efforts for a healthy living environment, movement and a healthy lifestyle, they connected with the successful company AFP d. o. o. from Dobova, the owner of sports shops Prva liga.

In 2022, the UM Faculty of Tourism, with a team led by Assoc. Prof. Dr Jasna Potočnik Topler and the Prva liga, led by Mrs Darja Šerbec started a joint educational and promotional project and are writing new stories that want to educate, raise awareness and connect. Students and employees of the UM Faculty of Tourism, international students on an Erasmus exchange at the Faculty of Tourism, and employees of Prvi Liga are also involved in the project. Prva Liga believes this cooperation is valuable because the exchange of knowledge and experience is invaluable. Because new, fresh, young ideas are welcome, they can add "new freshness" to their work. The ideas gained are beneficial and suitable for immediate use. Students look at the situation from a different angle, have an unencumbered view and can delve into the challenge in a completely different way than company employees.

The project grew out of planning the practical part of the course Rhetoric and public relations in the digital world, within which Assoc. Prof. Dr Jasna Potočnik Topler offered the students an insight into the prepration and execution of promotional stories and invited the Prva liga to participate, which responded gladly. In addition to exchanging experience and knowledge, they jointly prepared a promotional and educational campaign in which the students were a part. Dressed in the latest sustainable styles, which were carefully chosen and combined at the Prva liga, with a walk through the old town centre of Brežice, they drew attention to the importance of a healthy lifestyle and movement, as well as to the extraordinary heritage that is given to us and for which we have responsibility. By showing the study process during the campaign, they drew attention to the importance of quality education and the fact that we live in a time when lifelong learning is a constant. Assoc. Prof. Dr Jasna Potočnik Topler points out that it is precious that students have the opportunity to cooperate in nearby companies, with the local economic and non-economic sector, to do internships there, to learn from the best and local companies. On the other hand, have the opportunity to cooperate with the university environment, which undoubtedly brings positive effects for everyone.

Through the project, students gain practical experience, cooperate with each other and with a local company, gain new knowledge, acquaintances and experiences, and at the same time make their peers and the public aware of a healthy lifestyle, the importance of heritage, education and lifelong learning. "Think globally, act locally!" say the Faculty of Tourism University of Maribor and the Prva liga.