History of the University

Križevci University of Applied Sciences was founded in 1998 by the Decree of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, then as Križevci College of Agriculture, an independent public higher education institution. The establishment of the University represents the continuity of education in agriculture, which has existed in various organizational forms in Križevci since 19 November 1860, when the Royal College of Agriculture and Forestry, the oldest agricultural and forestry college in Southeastern Europe, began operating. The first professional centers and scientific institutes in the field of agriculture were established in this University, the first textbooks in the Croatian language were written and published, the first scientific journal in the field of agriculture was launched, so it is rightly considered the cradle of agricultural education, profession and science in Croatia.

The establishment of the school economy, which consisted of arable fields, gardens, meadows, orchards, vineyards, hop fields, forests, and organized livestock production, was a basic prerequisite for conducting quality practical classes, but also for conducting professional and scientific experiments. The establishment of individual stations or institutes was of particular importance for the development of scientific and professional work. Thus, in 1885, the Agricultural greenery and testing grounds were founded, and in 1893, the Seed Research Station was established as the first Croatian agricultural scientific institute. The station, among other things, controlled the quality of seeds in the southern part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, so that seeds could not be sold without a certificate from this station. In the same year, the Chemical Laboratory of the College supervises the first application of mineral fertilizers in the vineyards of the College.

College professors published a large number of professional books and textbooks, some of which were the first in their field. Thus, in 1883, August Vichodil published the work Agricultural economics or a short lesson on management, which today is considered the first textbook on agricultural economics. Vichodil is also the co-author, along with Josip Ubla and Rajo Lemaić, of probably the first book on dairy farming, Mindful Dairying. Ivan Potočnjak published the paper Science of Climate and Air Phenomena (1878), among the first of its kind in the Croatian language. In addition to books and textbooks, the professors also wrote a number of educational publications for farmers and professional articles that they published in various professional magazines. From 1887 to 1890, they themselves published the expert-informative magazine Journal for Agriculture and Forestry (Viestnik za gospodarstvo i šumstralo). The diligent work of the college professors created the conditions for the establishment of College of Agriculture in Križevci in 1902, which thus became the first higher education agricultural institution in Croatia. The Croatian Parliament then determined that the tasks of the college were: to raise and educate agricultural experts with higher and lower qualifications to improve agricultural science through scientific research, to test new rational management methods with practical experiments, to use modern methods of work on the school farm, to provide a bright example to other agricultural farms on how to organize production. We can easily conclude that these tasks are still an integral part of the mission of today's University. In those years, the Agrometeorological Station and the Bacteriological Institute (1901) and the Agricultural and Chemical Institute (1902) were founded. The first scientific journal the Journal of Agriculture (Gospodarska smotra, 1909) was also launched, which is still published today under the name Scientific Journal of Agriculture (Poljovirdna znanstvena smotra), and is published by the Faculty of Agriculture in Zagreb. The university's contribution to the development of animal husbandry in our country is significant. Since its establishment, the university has been working on the introduction, breeding and dissemination of the then best quality livestock breeds. First, Dutch cows were bred, then Möllthal and Pinzgau cows. Simmental cattle proved to be the best, and in 1908 in Sv. Ivan Žabno, near Križevci, the Croatian cattle breeding association was founded and was in charge of breeding of Simmental cattle.

Gustav Bohutinsky, Ph.D particularly stood out in the work of the Agricultural testing grounds, which later became the Plant production and selection station. His paper Crossing wheat cultivars Square head x Banat brkulja, published in agricultural journal Gospodarska smotra in 1911, is the first significant scientific work on inheriting traits in our country. Bohutinsky experimentally proved Mendel's theory of inheritance, where he found some deviations. The same was later proved by the American biologist Morgan, winner of the Nobel Prize for genetics. Bohutinsky worked on the selection of domestic wheat, but also introduced and tested foreign varieties, among which Sirban prolific stood out. The varieties he selected were grown all over Croatia, and were known as Bohutinsky wheat. In addition to the selection of wheat, he also researched the selection of rye, malting and fodder barley, and winter oats, and his work on the selection of corn can be considered the first of its kind, not only in Croatia, but also in Europe.

Dr. Bohutinski's work is continued by Dr. Vinko Mandekić, who in 1916 published the paper under the title "The first development and state of selection in Croatia" in the journal Zeitschrift für Pflanzenzüchtung. In 1918, dr. Mandekić presented the results of experiments on self-fertilization and heterosis of corn, which is our oldest scientific contribution on hybrid corn. In 1919, the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry was founded in Zagreb, the equipment and a large part of the library materials were moved there, many teachers left, and the Secondary Economic (Agricultural) School was founded in Križevci. Former scientific institutes become different professional institutions and stations. In 1948, the entire laboratory inventory of the Department for Soil Research and Plant Nutrition, together with samples, was taken to the Central Pedology Institute in Zagreb. The rich library created since the beginning of the College of Agriculture was also transferred to Zagreb. Despite those conditions, the laboratories of the College have maintained the continuity of agrochemical and pedological analyses since their foundation until today. The establishment of the Higher Agricultural School in 1961, the Agricultural School and Research Center in 1966, and the establishment of the Institute for Agricultural Research in 1968, as a scientific unit, gave renewed impetus to scientific and research work in Križevci. Based on the scientific and professional work of the teachers of the Higher Agricultural School, the Križevci Agricultural Institute for Directed Education and Scientific Work was founded in 1979, which existed until the founding of the present University in 1998.