| Agency Name: | Ministry of Science and Education |
| Nativename: | Ministarstvo znanosti i obrazovanja |
| Formed: | 31 May 1990 |
| Headquarters: | Donje Svetice 38, Zagreb, Croatia |
| Employees: | 425 (2015)[1] |
| Budget: | HRK 17.286 billion (2019)[2] |
| Jurisdiction: | Government of Croatia |
| Minister1 Name: | Radovan Fuchs |
The ministry of Science and Education of Croatia (Croatian: Ministarstvo znanosti i obrazovanja or MZO) is the ministry in the Government of Croatia which is in charge of primary, secondary and tertiary education, research institutions and sports. However, the fact that both education and sports are governed by one single body had drawn criticism from long time Croatian educators, which have the view of having the Ministry focusing on education alone.[3]
The ministry in its current form came into existence in 2003 in the Cabinet of Ivo Sanader I, resulting from the merger of the earlier Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Education and Sports. Both ministries had been originally formed in 1990, although they had changed forms and names several times during the 1990s. Below are lists of ministers of who headed both portfolios before the 2003 merger.
| Minister | Party | Term start | Term end | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Osman Muftić | Ind. | 30 May 1990 | 31 July 1991 | |
| Ante Čović | Ind. | 31 July 1991 | 15 April 1992 | |
| HDZ | 15 April 1992 | 12 August 1992 | ||
| HDZ | 12 August 1992 | 7 January 1993 | ||
| HDZ | 23 February 1993 | 7 November 1995 | ||
| Ivica Kostović | HDZ | 7 November 1995 | 14 October 1998 | |
| Milena Žic-Fuchs | 22 February 1999 | 27 January 2000 | ||
| Hrvoje Kraljević | HSLS | 27 January 2000 | 30 July 2002 | |
| Gvozden Flego | SDP | 30 July 2002 | 23 December 2003 | |
| Minister | Party | Term start | Term end | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vlatko Pavletić | HDZ | 30 May 1990 | 15 April 1992 | |
| Vesna Girardi-Jurkić | HDZ | 15 April 1992 | 18 October 1994 | |
| Ljilja Vokić | HDZ | 18 October 1994 | 4 March 1998 | |
| Božidar Pugelnik | HDZ | 4 March 1998 | 5 October 1999 | |
| Nansi Ivanišević | HDZ | 5 October 1999 | 27 January 2000 | |
| Vladimir Strugar | HSS | 27 January 2000 | 23 December 2003 | |
| Minister | Party | Term start | Term end | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 December 2003 | 6 July 2009 | |||
| HDZ | 6 July 2009 | 23 December 2011 | ||
| Željko Jovanović | SDP | 23 December 2011 | 11 June 2014 | |
| Vedran Mornar | 11 June 2014 | 22 January 2016 | ||
| HDZ | 22 January 2016 | 19 October 2016 | ||
| Minister | Party | Term start | Term end | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HDZ | 19 October 2016 | 9 June 2017 | ||
| Ind. | 9 June 2017 | 23 July 2020 | ||
| HDZ | 23 July 2020 | present | ||
nb 1. Milena Žic-Fuchs was appointed in 1999 as a non-party minister within the cabinet quota of HDZ.
nb 2. Dragan Primorac was originally appointed as a non-party minister in December 2003 in the HDZ-dominated Sanader cabinet. While in office he formally joined HDZ in September 2007. In July 2009 he resigned from his ministerial post to run in the December 2009 presidential election as an independent candidate. Because of his decision not to endorse HDZ's official party candidate Andrija Hebrang, his party membership was rescinded in November 2009.
nb 3. Vedran Mornar was appointed in 2014 as a non-party minister within the cabinet quota of SDP.