Selection is generally based on upper-secondary grades, Matura scores and/or an aptitude test. The first cycle includes undergraduate professional and academic programmes, and the second and third cycles involve master’s and doctoral programmes, respectively. Before the 2004 amendment to the Higher Education Act, which introduced the Bologna Process31 compliant study programmes (to better integrate the Slovenian higher education system with the European system), higher education programmes were binary in terms of their levels: undergraduate and post-graduate. Currently, 47 countries, which are also party to the European Cultural Convention, participate in the process.