About University
The Catholic University in Ružomberok consists of four faculties (Faculty of Arts and Letters, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Theology, Faculty of Public Health). There are 4,103 students – 2,986 internal and 1,117 external – including 218 doctoral students, in academic year 2016/2017. University has been the associate since 2004 and in 2010 it became the member of International Federation of Catholic Universities. University has also been the member of Fédération des Universités Catholiques Européennes since 2007.
According to the latest Report of the Academic Ranking and Rating Agency (ARRA), the Catholic University gained the fourfold numbers compared to the Slovak national average of progress based on quality indicators of the Slovak universities. It reached the evaluation of 41,5 points. That means the progress by 5,3 points compared to the last year's results. There was no Slovak higher institution with comparable continuous progress based on quality indicators during the evaluated period.
History
It was after the Velvet Revolution in the year 1989 when possibilities arose for the creation of CU in Slovakia. The Slovak bishops endeavoured to form a Faculty of Pedagogy which would educate Catholic teachers. The charter of the Pedagogical Institute of St. Andrew in Ružomberok was signed on 29 June 1995, in Dolná Krupá, and the first director was prof. RNDr. Jozef Ďurček, CSc.
The Academic Council of the University of Trnava created a Catechetical-pedagogical Faculty of St. Andrew (KPF) in 1996, through the transformation of the Pedagogical Institute of St. Andrew. The KPF was incorporated into the University of Žilina in 1997. Its statute, with the right of Church audit, as is usual for theological faculties, was registered at the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic. The first deans of KPF were prof. RNDr. Jozef Ďurček, Csc. (1996-1998) and prof. RNDr. Pavol Kluvánek, CSc. (1999-2000).
Later, on the basis of KPF, CU came into existence. The Law of the National Council of the Slovak Republic from 10 May 2000, about the establishment of the Catholic University in Ružomberok (CU) (this is the official name), established the creation of CU from the 1 April 2000, with two faculties: a Faculty of Pedagogy and a Faculty of Philosophy. The Faculty of Theology, with its seat in Košice, was established in 1 July 2003, and the fourth, the Faculty of Health, in 1 July 2005. Although Law 167/2000 createdCU as a non-governmental university,with the Law of the National Council of the Slovak Republic aboutuniversities,CU became a public university withreligious character from 1 April 2002.
The first rector of the Catholic University in Ružomberok was the mathematician Prof. RNDr. Pavol Kluvánek, CSc. (7/2000-10/2001). His successor was a physicist, Prof. RNDr. Jozef Ďurček, CSc. (11/2001-6/2004)). The third rector was a musician, Prof. PhDr. Boris Banáry, CSc. (7/2004-6/2008) and the fourth rector was a theologian and journalist, Prof. Tadeusz Zasepa, PhD. (7/2008-6/2012, 7/2012-5/2014). The fifth rector was a theologian Mons. Prof. ThDr. Jozef Jarab, PhD. (6/2014-8/2018). Doc. Ing. Jaroslav Demko, CSc. is the rector of the Catholic University in Ruzomberok from August 27, 2018.