The beginnings of modern, organized tertiary education in Skopje are connected to the establishment of the Faculty of Philosophy on the 16th December 1920. This Faculty was organized as an autonomous entity of the
University of Belgrade. During the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 Skopje was conquered by the Kingdom of Serbia, and after the end of the
First World War in 1918 the city became part of the newly estbalsihed
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The establishment of a University-level institution in the city was part of the wider assimilationist and colonialist policy of the Kingdom, which considered
its part of Macedonia as historically and ethnically Serbian, and in line with such policies the first Faculty of Philosophy consisted only of humanities departments. With the spread of the World War Two
into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1941, the activities of the Faculty ceased. Following the occupation of the region by the
Kingdom of Bulgaria, a new institution of higher education was established in 1943 in Skopje – the Tsar
Boris III University. In September 1944 a
coup d'état in Sofia led to Bulgaria joining the Soviets. As a result the Bulgarian administration in Macedonia withdrew to the old borders of the country. So, the Bulgarian University stopped its educational activity. In 1944 the
Socialist Republic of Macedonia was established by
ASNOM, which became officially operational in December, shortly after the
German retreat from Skopje. On the 16th of April 1945 a new Faculty of Philosophy was established in Skopje by the Macedonian communist authorities. On the 16th of December 1946 the official opening ceremony for the Faculty of Philosophy took place, which would serve as the cornerstone of the University of Skopje. This marked the beginning of a first Macedonian
state university. The first Faculty consisted of the Department of History and
Philology and the Department of
Mathematics and
Natural Science, while the Medical Faculty and the Faculty of Agriculture and
Forestry were added in 1947. Fifty-eight students enrolled during the first academic year of 1946–1947; in the next year this number grew to 907. The development of higher education in Macedonia was characterized by rapid growth, and several other faculties were added in the following years. Parallel to the education activities in the existing faculties, scholarly research was undertaken with the development of independent institutes of research. The University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius was officially established in 1949. The Institute of National History was founded in 1948, followed by Institute of Folklore in 1949, and the Institute of Economics in 1952. Today, there are 10 research institutes affiliated with the University of Skopje. After the great
1963 Skopje earthquake, which destroyed most of the city of Skopje, the university was leveled and some of the most modern laboratories in
Yugoslavia were destroyed. By this time the University of Skopje was the third largest in Yugoslavia. It was quickly rebuilt on the premises of a much larger and modern urban campus. At the request of Yugoslav authorities, scientists from
UNESCO's Department of Natural Sciences were sent to meet with the university's scientists to develop plans for the rehabilitation of the university's science laboratories. As a result, a large donation of equipment for science teaching and research was gathered from around the world through UNESCO's international programme of aid to Skopje. At present, the University of Skopje is carried out in the spirit of the 1991
Constitution of the Republic of North Macedonia, which incorporated the social, economic and political changes that had taken place after North Macedonia proclaimed its independence from the Former Yugoslav Federate State. On 3 August 2000 the Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia brought the new Law on Higher Education which adopted the overall European standards of higher education. The management organs of the university are the University Senate, consisting of two staff members from each faculty and scientific research institutes, five appointed members by the government of the Republic of North Macedonia and five students delegated from the Student Organization; the University Board, consisting of the rector, the vice-rectors, the secretary general, the deans of the faculties, the directors of the scientific-research institutes and one student representative; and the rector. The university represents a functional community of 25 faculties and 10 research institutes. ==Departments and faculties==