Slovenian Universities in the Light of The Court of Audit of the Republic of Slovenia

European and thus also the Slovenian higher education system has faced many changes in the last 25 years and is becoming more internationalized, deregulated, liberalized and market-oriented. One implication of these trends is the growing financial autonomy of higher education institutions (HEIs) in EU countries, which demands from them more knowledge and greater accountability in utilizing the public funds they receive. Changes in the higher education system require, or are conditioned by, the changing legal and other regulations on the basis of which Slovenian universities operate; however, these are not adequately taken into account in the management and operation of universities, as indicated in the audits undertaken by the Court of Audit of the Republic of Slovenia. Since its commencement of operation (1st January 1995), the Court of Audits has audited many HEIs - public universities, rectors' offices and ministries responsible for higher education, and produced close to 30 audits. The group of audits, carried out in the second half of the ‘90s, audited the use of public funds for higher education in 1996. The second group of audits, undertaken from 2006 onwards, audited financial statements and the regularity of operations. In both the first and the second group of audits, the Court's opinions were mainly qualified opinions or adverse opinions, which is particularly true for the regularity of operations and demonstrates serious shortcomings in the management of universities. In this paper, we will present the key findings of the audits of the Court of Audits, the reasons for them, and possible solutions for their elimination.