In Croatia you can study psychology at three universities: in Zagreb, which is the capital of Croatia, and in Rijeka and Zadar, which are both towns on the Adriatic Coast.

Getting on the Course

The first thing you have to do if you want to become a psychology student is pass an entrance examination. This isn't easy, as there are in average 500 applicants, and only about 50 of them can actually be accepted. The entrance examination consists of knowledge tests in psychology, biology and mathematics. You also have to pass an IQ test and you have to impress professors at your entrance interview. Also, it is rather important to have good high school grades.

The Course

Psychology studies in Croatia last for about five years. For the first two years you have to learn the basics of psychological science¹, so you have to do subjects like statistics, mathematics, biological psychology, experimental methods and similar. These subjects are mostly theoretical, and therefore a bit boring for most of the students.

It gets much more interesting in the third and fourth years because then you are able to do more practical things, like visiting institutions in which psychologists work, engaging in a small amount of student research, and learning how to deal with problems that may emerge when you start working as a psychologist. This is when you get subjects like counselling, clinical psychology, social psychology, and developmental psychology.

In order to graduate up to the next year, you have to pass exams in almost all the subjects studied throughout each year: a total of about 11 exams per year.

Final Years

After you have covered many subjects over four years, there are still two more years to go, during which time you have to pass some more exams and write a final paper. This final paper has to be an original piece of research done by yourself and, after it's done, you have to present it in front of a professors' committee.

After getting a psychologist's diploma, you can work in any psychological field, and if you want to specialise in a particular one, you can go on to do postgraduate studies.