The aim of the People’s University, founded in 1922, was to culturally educate all social classes. The organization, headed by Janko Kukovec, did not support any political party. By organizing lectures, professional courses, exhibits, literary and music events, etc., it became a prominent educational center. In the period between World War I and World War II Maribor was also the center of two other important educational organizations, liberal Cultural Societies’ Federation (CSF) and catholic Federation of Education. CSF fostered national awareness and education in northeastern Slovenia, where it founded libraries and rural theater companies, organized music events, lectures and courses. Catholically oriented Federation of Education, whose aim was to raise devout catholics, was active in the larger Maribor area as well. It opened a library and organized educational soirées and youth camps.Nestrankarsko oblikovana Ljudska univerza je bila ustanovljena leta 1922 z namenom, da kulturno vzgaja vse sloje prebivalstva. Pod vodstvom in‘. Janka Kukovca se je s predavanji, strokovnimi tečaji, razstavami, literarnimi in glasbenimi prireditvami in podobno, razvila v pomemben center ljudskoprosvetnega dela. Maribor je bil med svetovnima vojnama tudi središče dveh razvejanih kulturno prosvetnih organizacij: liberalne Zveze kulturnih društev in katoliške Prosvetne zveze. Zveza kulturnih društev je skrbela za narodno prosvetno delo na širšem območju SV Slovenije, kjer je ustanavljala knjižnice in podeželske odre, skrbela za glasbene prireditve, predavanja in tečaje. Tudi Prosvetna zveza je delovala na širšem območju Maribora, kjer je organizirala prosvetne večere, knjižnico, mladinske tabore itd. Izobraževala in vzgajala je predvsem zavedne katoličane
