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.
From 1990 to 1992 the first three ministers held the title of Minister of Science, Technology and Informatics. In August 1992 the ministry was renamed Ministry of Science and Technology, which remained unchanged until 2003.
Between 1990 and 1993 the ministry was called Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports. In April 1993 it was renamed Ministry of Culture and Education. In October 1994 the ministry was split into the present-day Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Education and Sports (with Ljilja Vokić appointed as head of the latter). This form remained unchanged until 2003.