The Department of Higher Education is responsible for the provision of professional and administrative support to the National Council for Higher Education, as the highest professional body concerned with the prosperity and quality of the entire system of Higher Education in the Republic of Croatia.
As the activities of the Department are closely related to the Council’s work, the Department of Higher Education operates to a great extent as an Office of the National Council for Higher Education.

The scope of work of the Department consists of professional and administrative affairs:
• in the processes of approving new academic programs in higher education institutions
• in the processes of issuing permits to new higher education institutions
• in the processes of evaluating higher education institutions and academic programs with the purpose of implementing the system for monitoring and improving the quality of higher education in the Republic of Croatia

Professional and administrative affairs of the Department include:
• preparation of meetings of the National Council for Higher Education (calling meetings, preparing materials and documents necessary for the meeting, composing instructions, decisions and conclusions, writing records and reports)
• preparation of common meetings of the national councils and meetings of the Council for the Board for Financing Scientific Activity and Higher Education, as the professional body of both councils
• ensuring of work conditions to the expert committees appointed by the Council for the purpose of approving new academic programs, issuing permits to new higher education institutions and evaluation of higher education institutions and academic programs
• collation of reviews and reports on an executed evaluation procedure
• ensuring of work conditions to the expert committees appointed by the Council for the purpose of analysis of a certain problem in the system of higher education
• cooperation with members of national councils, members of the Board for Financing Scientific Activity and Higher Education, Rectors’ Conference, and with the Council of Polytechnics and Schools of Professional Higher Education
• presentation and implementation of the guidelines of the Bologna Declaration and documents related to the establishment of the European system of Higher Education
• active cooperation with international and similar organizations in the EU in the domain of higher education, for the needs of the National Council for Higher Education