Towards the end of 1921, two years after its foundation, the University of Ljubljana established an association of professors of higher education called “The Association of University Professors of Ljubljana”. Its mission was to provide support for the young university, faced with a number of difficulties soon after its foundation. In the first decade especially – that is, in the 1920’s – the Association of Slovenian Professors played an important role in the struggle to improve the situation at the Slovenian university. Their main objective was to preserve its integrity and existence. In 1925, Professor Dr Karel Hinterlechner, Association member and University Chancellor, opposed the disbandment of the University and rejected criticism that the University of Ljubljana raised too many, graduate students, emphasizing that the University's main job was “to cultivate an impartial science, even disregarding the needs of the University”. The Association also worked closely with the University Council. Following the measures taken by the Belgrade government as a result of the non-academic retirement of some of the professors at the University of Zagreb without the knowledge and cooperation of the academic authorities, they responded together, expressing their disagreement. As for the costs necessary for the existence of the University, the staff, at the proposal of Professor Dr Ivan Plečnik, elected a three-member council, responsible for managing a national fund for the support of the University. It consisted of Professors Dr Franc Ksaver Lukman, Dr Karel Hinterlechner and Dr Fran Eller. When a new university law was being drafted (in 1930), the Society members were already deep in discussion on individual articles of the law in March 1928 at the general meeting. With its centralist system, the dictatorship of the 6th of January suppressed the operation of the Association. In 1931, the dissolved Slovenian “Society of University Teachers” was replaced by “The Association of University Teachers of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia” with three individual sections in Belgrade, Zagreb and Ljubljana. One year before the war, the Ljubljana section had an average membership of 40 to 75 people. During World War II, under Italian occupation, the Association of Schoolteachers of the Region of Ljubljana was formed with separate branches for university and assistant professors. After the war, the Association revived once again.