OSCE helps build regional ties between military academies

In 1805, on the low hills of Austerlitz, Moravia, over 16,000 soldiers lost their lives when the French Empire clashed with a Russo-Austrian coalition in the Battle of Three Emperors.

Just over two centuries later, in December 2009, a group of young Serbian officers-in-training visited the battlefield, in what is now the Czech town of Slavkov u Brna, with an altogether different goal in mind.

The Serbian officers-in-training, ten students from the Serbian Military Academy in Belgrade, had travelled to Brno to visit the Czech University of Defence under an OSCE Mission to Serbia project to assist the Military Academy in carrying out reforms of higher military education.

Modernizing higher military education

The Czech-funded project is part of a broader process of security sector reform in Serbia, which is being supported by the OSCE Mission. "The ongoing reform of the security sector in Serbia, including strengthening the democratic character of this sector and streamlining its functions, is a prerequisite for the country's further democratic progress," says Daiana Falloni, Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia's Democratization Department. "Reforming military education has a major strategic impact on this reform," she explains.

At the Military Academy in Belgrade, one of the most visible changes has been the integration of women into higher military education: thirty women were accepted at the Academy for the first time in 2006 and the number of female students has risen steadily since then.

Other goals successfully met have included merging all institutes of higher military education into a single Academy and increasing compatibility and collaboration with domestic civil education, such as by creating joint degree programmes with Belgrade University.

Furthermore, there is a new emphasis on international standards and co-operation at the Academy. In addition to adjusting its structure to meet the guidelines of the Bologna Declaration - which aims to harmonize systems of higher education across Europe - the Military Academy is working together with the OSCE Mission to Serbia to enhance co-operation with military academies in other countries.

Regional co-operation

In light of the transnational nature of the most serious security threats in the world today, there is a demand for intensified regional and global teamwork on defence and security matters. "Both students and teachers at the Military Academy must gain experience in working in multinational military staff environments," says General Mladen Vuruna, who heads the institution. "What's more," he declares, "given the need for co-operation between nations in ensuring security, functional, friendly contacts with our counterparts abroad are no longer a mere pleasantry, but an absolute necessity."

It was in this context that OSCE Mission to Serbia and the Military Academy conceived the idea of a students' trip to a foreign military academy, choosing the University of Defence in Brno as the destination due to its similarity to the Serbian Military Academy and its own recent success with reforms. The ten Serbian students were selected on the basis of an essay competition, in which they were asked to elaborate on the theme "Education at the Military Academy in the eyes of the students."

The five-day trip began in Prague, where the students visited the Ministry of Defence and heard presentations on the Czech and NATO defence policies. Once in Brno, they attended lectures on past and current developments in military education. They familiarized themselves with the structure and functions of the University of Defence in Brno and its military training centre in Vyskov, joining in on all of their Czech colleagues' activities at the University.

Making connections

The learning did not end once they left the lecture hall. "Usually the day would not finish with the end of the official programme, but with drinks in local pubs, with Czechs and Serbs sitting together and discussing similarities and differences between the academies, as well as military life in general. It was wonderful to see how both students and officers from Serbia made friends with their Czech colleagues," reports OSCE National Programme Officer Milan Sekuloski, who headed the project.

The students themselves rated the trip highly, with many particularly impressed with the simulation centre in Vyskov. As one student, Predrag Andric, recalled, "We learned a lot about the military education reform process in the Czech Republic, and noticed that its reform concept is very similar to ours in Serbia."

Another student's comment confirmed that the seeds of international co-operation have been sown: "I would be happy if our Czech colleagues would pay us a visit at the Military Academy," declared Marina Kanjuga. "I believe that we could be just as good hosts as they were!"

The project "Assistance to the Higher Military Education Reform in Serbia" will conclude with the publication and promotion, in early 2010, of the participating students' essays and report on their visit.