Medicine in English in Slovakia: SZU or Comenius University?

In short. Two Bratislava schools covered here teach General Medicine in English: the Slovak Medical University (SZU) and Comenius University's Faculty of Medicine. Both exams test only biology and chemistry, in English, and neither school asks for an English certificate. SZU has one exam day, while Comenius has three exam dates but one try a year. Apply to both, and you get two chances in one year.

Searching for MBBS in Slovakia? Here the degree is called MUDr. (SZU, 6 years).

This guide is about Slovakia, not Slovenia, and it covers the English programmes only. The Slovak-language programmes have other rules and dates. For Comenius, it covers the Faculty of Medicine in Bratislava.

Both schools on one page

Here is the whole comparison in one picture. Save it, or send it to your parents.

SZU is a small programme: it planned 15 places for 2026/27. 24 applicants are on an admitted list SZU published, with no year on it. Comenius is much bigger: its faculty page gives 240 admitted to General Medicine (2026/27).

The two tests feel different. SZU publishes a list of 21 topics, and about two-thirds of it is chemistry and biochemistry. Comenius uses only questions from two booklets that the faculty sells, and a wrong answer there scores 0, never minus.

Each school has a full free guide: the SZU guide and the Comenius guide.

What each school costs

Cost	SZU	Comenius
Exam fee (2026/27)	EUR 70	EUR 99
Study material	Free topic list	Booklets: EUR 31.98 for the PDF (Sep 2026)
Tuition a year (2026/27)	EUR 10,000	EUR 13,000
University housing	None for this programme	Ask the faculty

• SZU takes the fee by bank transfer only, and refunds it only if the programme does not open.
• Comenius does not refund the fee. It promises the same tuition each year for the normal length of the course (2026/27).
• The printed Comenius booklets cost EUR 33.60, and the faculty posts them within Slovakia only.
• Translations, apostilles and travel cost extra, and those prices depend on your country.

Key dates for 2027/28

The 2027 dates are not published yet. This chart shows the year you can expect, based on the 2026 dates.

• SZU approved its 2026/27 rules in November 2025, so expect the 2027/28 rules around November 2026.
• SZU in 2026: apply, pay and post every document by 31 May, then sit the exam on 1 July.
• Comenius in 2026: exam dates in March, June and August. The August date was 6 August for General Medicine.
• Comenius August 2026 registration ran from 4 June to 23 July, and in person until 16 July. Documents were due by 23 July.
• Comenius March or June 2027 registration: the dates are not published yet. Ask the faculty's Study Department now.
• Comenius results: in 2026, the faculty said they come within 30 days of the exam. Enrolment was on 14 September 2026.
• Outside the EU? Comenius says to sit in March or June (2026 rules), because the visa takes time.

The documents you need

Three words come up again and again:

• Apostille: an official stamp that proves your certificate is real.
• Recognition statement: a form you print from the Slovak ministry's website, showing that your school-leaving certificate counts in Slovakia.
• Nostrification: official recognition of your diploma by a Slovak regional school office.

Which one applies to you depends on where you went to school:

You went to school in	SZU (2026/27)	Comenius (2026)
The EU (Germany too), Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, the UK, Ukraine, Russia or China	Recognition statement	Recognition statement, with a notarised copy of your diploma in Slovak
Iceland	Recognition statement	Check the ministry website: the faculty's guide does not name Iceland
Any other country	A recognition decision from a Slovak regional school office	A Slovak regional school office decides

SZU: everything by 31 May (2026 deadline)

SZU's 2026/27 rules set one deadline, and by then you must do all three:

1. Apply in MAIS (SZU's online application system), using the Firefox browser as SZU asks.
2. Pay the EUR 70 fee, by bank transfer.
3. Post the signed form with every document below.

The documents (2026/27 list):

• Your school-leaving certificate with an apostille, plus an authorised Slovak translation.
• The recognition statement or recognition decision from the table above.
• Proof that you paid the EUR 70 fee.
• A doctor's certificate of fitness, with your hepatitis B vaccination.
• A CV in English.
• Your birth certificate, plus an authorised Slovak translation.
• A copy of your passport or ID card.
• One photo, 3.5 x 4.5 cm.

Still at school? You may hand in your certificate on exam day at the latest. A document missing at the deadline means you do not meet the conditions (2026/27 rules). SZU's general rules let the faculty ask for a missing document, but do not count on it. The rules do not say if your envelope must arrive by the deadline, or only be posted by then. So ask SZU, and post early.

Comenius: upload three documents

Apply in the university's online application. In 2026 you uploaded three things:

• A scan of your passport or ID.
• Proof that you paid the EUR 99 fee.
• Your school diploma.

Health papers can come after admission. A recognition statement is valid only with a notarised copy of your diploma. A certified translator must translate that copy into Slovak. Post both to the faculty's Study Department in Bratislava. For the August 2026 date, documents were due by 23 July. For March or June, ask the Study Department by when they must arrive.

The faculty's nostrification guide says to start nostrification once you are admitted. The faculty calls it a long process, and you cannot enrol without it.

• The fee: EUR 7 for Germany and eight other countries. Austria is not on that list, so EUR 40.
• The open question: the faculty's guides do not say if the recognition statement replaces nostrification.
• What to do: ask the faculty's Study Department before you apply, not after admission. The Comenius guide has the address and a question to copy.

You can apply yourself

Both schools take your application directly, online, and you pay each fee straight to the university. The SZU guide and the Comenius guide list every step. Our free PDF lists every document, with tick boxes.

Apply to both for two chances

SZU and Comenius are separate universities. So you send two applications, pay two fees and sit two exams. In 2026 they were on separate days: SZU on 1 July, Comenius in March, June or August.

• Comenius lets you register once per programme each academic year, so a bad exam means a year's wait for Comenius.
• SZU has one exam day, which was 1 July in 2026.
• Both test school-level biology and chemistry, so your study helps with both exams.
• Another entrance exam on the same day? SZU's general rules let you ask the dean in writing for another date. Attach that university's invitation.

Outside the EU? Sit Comenius in March or June, before SZU's July exam. SZU's document says nothing about visas, so ask SZU before you rely on July.

Short answers to common questions

Do I need IELTS or an interview?

No. Neither school asks for an English certificate, but the test is in English, so it checks your English too. Neither school's English-programme rules name an interview.

Is physics on either exam?

No. Both exams test only biology and chemistry, and SZU's topic list has no anatomy beyond blood groups.

How hard is it to get in?

At SZU, the lowest score admitted in 2025/26 was 355 of 640, or about 55%. That was one year, not a promise for the next one. Comenius publishes no pass mark.

Will my degree count at home?

SZU's programme takes 6 years and ends with the MUDr. degree (doctor of general medicine) and 360 ECTS credits. The regulator where you want to work decides whether it recognises the degree, not SZU or Comenius. We cannot advise on degree recognition, so ask that regulator before you apply.

Can I move to a university in Germany or Austria later?

We cannot advise on transfers. Two offices decide, so ask both before you apply:

• the university you want to move to, about counting your semesters;
• the medical regulator where you want to work, about your degree.

You can send the university this question in German:

Ich studiere Humanmedizin auf Englisch in Bratislava. Ich möchte später an Ihre Universität wechseln. Welche Stelle entscheidet, ob meine Semester angerechnet werden?

In English: "I study medicine in English in Bratislava. I want to move to your university later. Which office decides if my semesters count?"

I learned biology and chemistry in German. Is that a problem?

Both exams are in English, so learn the English words for what you already know. Here are some key words from SZU's topic list, with our German translations:

English	German
solubility product	Löslichkeitsprodukt
stoichiometry	Stöchiometrie
moles	Stoffmenge (Mol)
equilibrium constant	Gleichgewichtskonstante
osmotic pressure	osmotischer Druck
Krebs cycle	Citratzyklus
electron transport chain	Atmungskette
Hardy-Weinberg law	Hardy-Weinberg-Gesetz

Our free PDF lists all 21 SZU topics with the key words in English and German. Both exams test school biology and chemistry, so the words help with the Comenius booklets too.

Are SZU and Comenius the same university?

No. They are two universities, both in Bratislava, and each has its own exam, fees and dates.

Get ready for both exams

Our plans, one payment each:

Sources

• SZU: English-programme admission document, 2026/27 (PDF)
• SZU: entrance exam topics, English programme (PDF)
• SZU: dean's decision on the 2025/26 English programme (PDF)
• SZU: rules of the admission procedure, 13/2022 (PDF)
• Comenius Faculty of Medicine: admission process
• Comenius Faculty of Medicine: entrance exam
• Comenius Faculty of Medicine: e-application manual, 2026 (PDF)
• Comenius Faculty of Medicine: recognition of education (PDF)
• Comenius Faculty of Medicine: nostrification (PDF)

Written by the SlovakiaMedPrep team (Prepalio International B.V., Rotterdam), and checked against the universities' own documents. We are independent and not part of either university. Last updated 6 October 2026.