The Fund’s Board is the highest governing body and oversees its activities.

In accordance with Section 4(1) of Act No. 396/2012 Coll. on the Fund for the Support of Education, as amended (hereinafter referred to as the “Act on the Fund”), the responsibilities of the Fund Council include in particular:

1. approval of loans,
2. approval of the terms and conditions for granting loans and of the deadlines for submitting loan applications,
3. approval of the allocation of financial resources for loans pursuant to Section 10(5) and determination of the maximum loan amount for this purpose,
4. approval of financial resources pursuant to Section 1(3)(b) and (c),
5. election and removal of the Chairman of the Fund Council,
6. approval of the statute of the Fund, the Rules of Procedure of the Fund Council, the organisational rules of the Fund, and other internal regulations of the Fund, unless their approval falls within the competence of other bodies of the Fund,
7. appointment and dismissal of the Director of the Fund and determination of his/her salary in accordance with the Labour Code,
8. approval of the budget of the Fund,
9. approval of the annual report of the Fund,
10. approval of the Fund’s development strategy and the sustainability of its activities,
11. approval of the Fund’s annual financial statements audited by an auditor,
12. decision on applications for remission of a debt or part thereof,
13. decision on the deferral of loan repayments and on the extension of the loan repayment period, where there is no statutory entitlement to a deferral of loan repayments,
14. approval of the acceptance of a loan from banks, branches of foreign banks, or international institutions of which the Slovak Republic is a member,
15. expressing opinions on other matters assigned to the Fund’s competence by law or by the Fund’s internal regulations.

Further details regarding the competence of individual Fund bodies are specified in the Fund’s Statute.

The Fund’s Board consists of nine members, of whom:

• five members are appointed and dismissed by the Minister of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic,
• three members are appointed and dismissed by the Student Council of Higher Education Institutions, one of whom is a representative of doctoral study programme students, and
• one member is appointed and dismissed by the Minister of Finance of the Slovak Republic.

The term of office of a member of the Fund Council is three years; membership in the Fund Council is non-representable.