Ludvik Toplak has spent more than four decades moving between law, politics and higher education leadership, with a career that runs from the lecture hall to parliament to the rector’s office.
He studied in Ljubljana, Belgrade, New York, Novi Sad, Oslo and Potsdam, then taught law at the Faculty of Law in Maribor, the University of Ljubljana and in Nova Gorica. He has lectured widely as a visiting professor and published extensively on civil, commercial and international commercial law, ecology, intellectual property, human rights and the social market economy.
Between 1980 and 1987, he worked in industry as deputy director of Iskra Delta Computers. He then moved into politics, serving as president of the Sociopolitical Assembly, the first democratically elected parliament of the Republic of Slovenia, from 1990 to 1993. He was rector of the University of Maribor from 1993 to 2002, then Slovenia’s ambassador to the Holy See from 2002 to 2006.
Toplak founded and led Alma Mater Europaea – European Centre, Maribor (AMEU – ECM) from 2008 to 2024, and has served as rector of Alma Mater Europaea University since 2024.
He is a member of the World Academy of Art and Science and has belonged to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts since 2000, sitting on its Senate from 2015 to 2020 and serving as Slovenia’s national delegate since 2021. He has also been a visiting professor at Ningbo University of Technology since 2020.
His work has been recognised with numerous honours, including the Order of Saint Gregory awarded by Pope John Paul II (2004), the Paul Harris Fellow recognition in the humanitarian field (2021), he was appointed an Honorary Knight of the Knights Order of Saint George for active work on intercultural cooperation in central Europe (2021), the Golden Order for Merits from the President of the Republic of Slovenia (2022) and he is Ambassador of Science of the Republic of Slovenia, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Lawyers Associations of Slovenia (2022). He holds doctor honoris causa (dr.h.c) from the University of Mostar (2024).
