KomenskÝ Bratislava University

named after Jan Amos Komenský (John Comenius), first Slovak state university. It was established in the region of Slovakia in 1919 after the formation of Czechoslovakia (previously, from 1914, there had been only a Hungarian university). A medical department was opened first, followed by departments of law and philosophy. In February 1939, after the Munich Pact and the formation of the so-called Slovak state (1939), the name J. A. Komenský was stricken from the university’s title. The fascist-clerical ruling clique attempted to turn the university into an instrument for the nationalistic and fascist training of youth. A theology department was opened in 1940. The university began to flourish with the country’s liberation from fascism (1945); children of working people gained access to it. The theology department was withdrawn from the precincts of the university. On Nov. 12, 1954, the university’s previous name was restored: Komenský Bratislava University.

During the 1969/70 academic year, there were six departments in Bratislava—namely, law, medicine, pharmacy, philosophy and the arts, natural sciences, and physical education and sports. A pedagogical institute in Trnava also is attached to the university.

There were over 6,000 students and 3,337 teachers in the university in the 1969-70 school year. The university library (founded in 1919) has 1.2 million volumes (1969).