Gimnazija Bežigrad was established in 1936 when two boys’ high schools amalgamated and moved to the present premises situated in the Bežigrad district of the city of Ljubljana. Since 1947 it has been coeducational: presently there are more girls than boys attending the school. The name of the school has been changing, depending on the school reforms. At the beginning it was called I. Gimnazija Bežigrad, then Mathematics and Sciences Secondary School, finally, again Gimnazija Bežigrad.
Gimnazija Bežigrad is a state school offering secondary school program called “Gimnazija” preparing students for further education at the university level. All the graduates later study at the university.
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Program was introduced in September 1990 when a group of twenty Slovene students were admitted into the diploma program. Since then we have had a group of Slovene students every year selected from secondary schools all over Slovenia.The IB works with 3,968 schools in 147 countries. The IB DP is a challenging program which successfully co-exists besides the demanding National Matura.
Gimnazija Bežigrad started admitting foreign students in 1993 into its two international programs both offered by the International Baccalaureate Organization. The Middle Years Program (MYP) for students in grades 9 and 10 and the Diploma Program (DP) for grades 11 and 12. Gimnazija Bežigrad today is organised as a school with two organisational units: the national Gimnazija and the International School.
