Higher education in Croatia is provided by higher education institutions (HEI).

They are universities and their constituents (faculties, academies of arts, university departments), polytechnics, and colleges. According to the Directory of Institutions of Higher Education (accessed on 10 December 2019) of the Ministry of Science and Education, there are 134 HEIs in Croatia.

Universities and their constituents organise and deliver study programmes at all levels of the qualification framework. Universities most frequently make their studies available through faculties, academies, or departments, depending on whether they have been integrated (without affiliated HEIs) or not. Faculties and academies are usually separate institutions of higher education (although integral parts of universities), which means that they provide study programmes and undertake scientific and professional activities in one or more scientific and professional fields, and act as legal entities. University departments, on the other hand, provide study programmes in one specific area and field, and, as a rule, they are part of universities’ integrated activities. 

Polytechnics and colleges organise and deliver professional study programmes and perform professional activities.

The majority of higher education institutions in Croatia (of which there are 105, according to the Directory of Institutions of Higher Education (accessed on 10 December 2019)) are publicly-owned, which means that the State has established them by law and that they are publicly financed from the State Budget in the form of government subsidy allocated for every full-time student. Public institutions of higher education may also secure additional funding through tuitions from part-time students or through study programmes that are not government-funded, different projects, and other sources of income. Private institutions of higher education (currently 29) are established by their founders’ decision and funded from their own sources.