Matura or a similar term (matur, maturita, maturità, Maturität, матура) is the common name for the high-school exit exam or "maturity exam" in various countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland, as well as among Ukrainian émigrés. It is taken by young adults (usually aged 18 or 19) at the end of their secondary education, and generally must be passed in order to apply to a university or other institution of higher education.
In the Czech Republic it is officially called maturitní zkouška, in Slovakia maturitná skúška, in Poland egzamin maturalny, in Austria Reifeprüfung ("examination of maturity"), but matura is used colloquially in these four countries. In Hungary, the same system is used, but it is called érettségi (vizsga) ("examination of maturity"), the equivalent of matura and in Israel it is called bagrut (Hebrew word for "maturity"). In Italy it used to be called esame di maturità and now esame di Stato. In Bulgaria, the official name is държавни зрелостни изпити (darzhavni zrelostni izpiti, "state maturity examinations"), but the name матура (matura) is almost always used instead.