Virtual Graduation Ceremony of the Civil Servants' Course 2021

On 13th April, the Baltic Defence College (BALTDEFCOL) held a Virtual Graduation Ceremony of Civil Servants' Course (CSC) 2021.

Students of CSC have usually represented our Framework Nations – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania with some exceptions within 15 courses, but this year in addition Ukraine was represented. Therefore, on 11th January, 10 students from four different nations were gathered to Tartu to start an interesting educational journey but unfortunately spend mainly time together via a distance learning environment.

Brigadier General Ilmar Tamm, Commandant of the BALTDEFCOL highlighted the COVID-19 situation as well. He pointed out, that besides new settings and complicated conditions, the pandemic situation united the students. “Personal ties and relations you have established in the past 3 months is the most significant investment you can benefit from in the future”, he added.

Colonel Grachauskas, the Director of Joint Command and General Staff Course/ Civil Servants’ Course stressed that students' openness and willingness to learn from their military counterparts added a significant value to broaden their own views and levelling up the knowledge. He congratulated all the students and wished them luck.

During the graduation ceremony, as the College tradition, students were recognized for their outstanding performance during the Course. Ms Kristel Urke (EST) received the Best CSC 2021 Student Award and Mr Taras Ivanec (LTU) was acknowledged with the Class Leader Recognition.

CSC is designed for junior and mid-ranking civil servants who deal with national security and defence issues in various ministries and government agencies. This course is just over three months long and is conducted closely together with the Joint Command and General Staff Course (JCGSC). Thus, CSC builds upon close civil-military interaction and promotes inter-agency cooperation, which is beneficial for respective nations.

We send our warmest congratulations to all the graduates of Civil Servants’ Course 2021! We hope you will continue the road of self-development and we wish you all the best in your future endeavours!