Military academy explained

A military academy or service academy (American English) is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps of the Army, the Navy, Air Force or Coast Guard or provides education in a service environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned.

Three types of academy exists: High school-level institutions awarding academic qualifications, university-level institutions awarding Bachelor's degree level qualification, and those preparing officer cadets for commissioning into the armed services of the state.

Afghanistan

Argentina

Argentine Army

Argentine Navy

Argentine Air Force

Australia

Bangladesh

Brazil

Has several military academies, and the biggest is Academia Militar de Agulhas Negras (AMAN) in the municipality of Resende, in state of Rio de Janeiro, in the southeast of that country.

Bulgaria

Canada

Canada currently has one military-theme private boarding school open for students at the pre-university level, Robert Land Academy (RLA), which is located in West Lincoln, Ontario. Founded in 1977, it is an all-boys' institute whose funding arises solely from tuition fees. The Academy is an institute fully accredited by the province of Ontario, which accepts students from Grade 6 to Grade 12 (the Ontario Academic Credit level).

Canada formerly had three university level service academies, the Canadian Military Colleges. These included the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) in Kingston, Ontario, Royal Roads Military College (RRMC) in Victoria, British Columbia and the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean (CMR) in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec. RMC was founded in 1876, RRMC in 1941 and CMR in 1954. [1] By the 60s all three institutions were providing *military education to officer cadets of all three elements in the Canadian Forces; the navy, army and air force; and RMC received the authority to grant academic degrees in Arts, Science and Engineering. [2]

Graduates of the Colleges are widely acknowledged to have had a disproportionate impact in the Canadian services and society, thanks to the solid foundations provided by their military education. [3] In the modern era, emphasis was placed on a broad based, liberal education including core courses in the humanities, social, pure and applied sciences. Military discipline and training, as well as a focus on physical fitness and fluency in both of Canada's two official languages, English and French, provided cadets with ample challenges and a very fulfilling experience. [4] In 1995 the Department of National Defence was forced to close Royal Roads Military College and Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean due to budget considerations, but Royal Military College of Canada continues to carry the proud tradition educating Canada's future leaders into the twenty-first century. [5] The Royal Roads University reopened as a civilian university. In 2007, the Department of National Defence reopened Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean as a two year college.

China

Czech Republic

Univerzita obrany http://www.unob.cz/en/

Egypt

Finland

France

Undergraduate academies :

Postgraduate academies :

The Ecole Polytechnique, though its students are enlisted in the military, is no longer a military academy, as very few of its graduates remain in the military after graduation.

Germany

In Germany there exists a system which clearly differs from the common ones. The only true military academies are in fact the Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr where mainly future staff officers and general staff officers are further trained and the Naval Academy Mürwik.The standard education in military leadership is the task of the Offizierschulen (officer's schools) run by the three branches. The contents differ from branch to branch. In the army all officer's are at least trained to lead a platoon. There they also have to pass an officer exam to become commissioned later on.Moreover there exist so called Waffenschulen like infantry school or artillery school. There the officer's learn to deal with the typical tasks of their respective corps.A specialty of the German concept of officer formation is the academic education. Germany runs two own Universities of the German Federal Armed Forces where almost every future officer has to pass non-military studies and achieve a Bachelor's or Master's degree. During their studies (after at least three years of service) the candidates become commissioned Leutnant (second-lieutenant).

Greece

The Hellenic Armed Forces have military academies supervised by each branch of the Armed Forces individually:

India

Indonesia

Akademi Angkatan Bersenjata Republic Indonesia (Indonesia Military Academy)http://www.akmil.ac.id/ Founded in Yogyakarta, October 13, 1945 in order of General Staff Chief of Indonesia Army Leut. Gen Urip Sumoharjo with name Militaire Academie (MA) Yogyakarta. Now, Tentara Nasional Indonesia (National Military of Indonesia), placed each academy into:

Indonesian Army

Indonesian Air Force

Indonesian Navy

Italy

University level institutions:

Japan

Korea, South

See main article: Republic of Korea military academies. The three main military academies:

Other military academies:

Malaysia

Secondary level institutions:

Mexico

University level institutions:

Specialist Training & Staff institutions:

Reserve Officer Training Units (Malay: Pasukan Latihan Pegawai Simpanan or Malay: ''PALAPES'') or ROTU exists only in public universities in Malaysia. This is a tertiary institution based officer commissioning program to equip students as officer cadets with military knowledge and understanding for service as Commissioned Officers in the reserve components of the various branches of the Malaysian Armed Forces.

Netherlands

New Zealand

Tier One - Initial Officer Training

Tier Two - Junior Officer Education

Tier Three - Senior Officer Education

Norway

Undergraduate officer training

Postgraduate training

Pakistan

The Pakistan Military Academy is the sole supplier of officers to the Pakistan Army while the Pakistan Air Force Academy supplies officers and fighter pilots to the Pakistan Air Force. The officers for the Pakistan Navy are supplied by the Pakistan Naval Academy.

Peru

Undergraduate officer training

Philippines

The Philippine Military Academy (PMA) is the training school for future officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. It was established as an Officer's School of the Philippine Constabulary on February 17, 1905 at Intramuros, Manila, but was relocated on September 1, 1908 in Baguio City.

Romania

In Romania there are military academies for every military branch:

There is also a technical military academy:

Serbia

Military Academy Belgrade

Singapore

Spain

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has one defense university taking cadets from all three armed services , 3 non-university level Military Academies, one for each armed service providing basic training for officer and a Command and Staff College for senior officers of the three armed services. The General Sir John Kotelawala Defense University, was established in 1980 and is named after Gen. Sri John Kotelawala the 2nd Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.

University
Officer training
Staff training

Soviet Union

See main article: Soviet military academies.

Sweden

Military Academy Karlberg

Republic of China

Turkey

United Kingdom

Pre-University level institutions:

Officer training

Postgraduate and staff training

No longer operational:

Paralleling the way the School Cadet forces work at a pre-university level, at the university level there are the University Royal Naval Units, University Officer Training Corps (UOTC) and University Air Squadrons. However the mission of the UOTC is not the training of officers[6] .

United States

See main article: United States military academies.

The United States is almost unique in that the term "military academy" does not necessarily mean an institution run by the armed forces to train its own military officers; it may also mean a middle school, high school or tertiary-level college, whether public or private, which instructs its students in military-style education, discipline and tradition.

Many public high schools offer Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps programs sponsored by the United States Armed Forces.

Military academies can be either private or have government sponsorship from regional (state) or national government.

The colleges operated by the U.S. Federal Government are referred to as the Federal Service Academies and are:

State-sponsored Military Academy:

In addition, several institutions which were at the time of their founding military colleges, maintain both a corps of cadets and a civilian student body. These include:

Along with Virginia Military Institute and The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, these institutions are known as the Senior Military Colleges.

Five institutions are considered Military Junior Colleges. These five schools participate in the Army's two-year Early Commissioning Program, an Army ROTC program where qualified students can earn a commission as a Second Lieutenant after only two years of college. The five Military Junior Colleges are:

Note: The terms college and university are interchangeable in the below discussion. They are both used to denote an institution of higher learning which a person might attend after attending high school, typically at age 17, 18, or 19.

Venezuela

Military academies are managed by each branch of the Armed Forces and offer five-year University courses. Enrolled students are Officer Candidates and receive a commission as Sub Teniente or Alférez on graduation.

The terms Escuela Militar or Academia Militar are always used to refer to these higher-education institutions:

Military-style high schools in Venezuela are known as Liceos Militares or Liceos Militarizados. These are managed by the Armed Forces or by private groups, with support and personnel from the Armed Forces.

Pre-collegiate institutions

A military school teaches various ages (middle school, high school, or both) in a manner that includes military traditions and training in military subjects. The vast majority are in the United States. Many military schools are also boarding schools, and others are simply magnet schools in a larger school system. Many are privately run institutions, though some are public and are run by either a public school system (such as the Chicago Public Schools), or by a state.

A common misperception results because some states have chosen to house their child criminal populations in higher-security boarding schools that are run in a manner similar to military boarding schools. These are also called reform schools, and are functionally a combination of school and prison. They attempt to emulate the high standards of established military boarding schools in the hope that a strict structured environment can reform these children. This may or may not be true. However, this should not reflect on the long and distinguished history of military schools; their associations are traditionally those of high academic achievement, with solid college preparatory curricula, schooling in the military arts, and considerably esteemed graduates.

Popular culture sometimes shows parents sending or threatening to send unruly children off to military school (or boarding school) to teach them good behavior.

Adult institutions

A college level military academy is an institute of higher learning of things military. It is part of a larger system of military education and training institutions. The primary educational goal at military academies is to provide a high quality education that includes significant coursework and training in the fields of military tactics and military strategy. The amount of non-military coursework varies by both the institution and the country, and the amount of practical military experience gained varies as well.

Military academies may or may not grant university degrees. In the U.S., graduates have a major field of study, earning a Bachelor's degree in that subject just as at other universities. However, in British academies, the graduate does not achieve a university degree, since the whole of the one-year course (nowadays undertaken mainly but not exclusively by university graduates) is dedicated to military training.

There are two types of military academies: national (government-run) and state/private-run.

See also

Notes and References

  1. H16511 Dr. Richard Arthur Preston "To Serve Canada: A History of the Royal Military College of Canada" 1997 Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1969.
  2. 4237 Dr. Adrian Preston & Peter Dennis (Edited) "Swords and Covenants" Rowman And Littlefield, London. Croom Helm. 1976.
  3. H16511 Dr. Richard Preston "R.M.C. and Kingston: The effect of imperial and military influences on a Canadian community" 1968
  4. H1877 R. Guy C. Smith (editor) "As You Were! Ex-Cadets Remember". In 2 Volumes. Volume I: 1876-1918. Volume II: 1919-1984. Royal Military College. [Kingston]. The R.M.C. Club of Canada. 1984
  5. "To Serve Canada: A History of the Royal Military College since the Second World War", Ottawa, University of Ottawa Press, 1991.
  6. Web site: University Officer Training Corps About Us. Ministry of Defence. UOTCs are military units but it is not about training students for war. Many UOTC members do go on to join the Armed Forces, both full and part time, but the majority have no further contact with the forces after they graduate..