Workshop on Recognition and Accreditation of Military Colleges and Development of War Studies in the Baltics

Workshop on Recognition and Accreditation of Military Colleges and Development of War Studies in the Baltics took place at the BALTDEFCOL on 20 -21 February 2006. One of the main goals of the workshop was to explore various ways for the College to become an integral part of the civilian education network in the Baltic States in order to facilitate academic education of officers. Another goal was to promote war studies culture in the region as one of the prerequisites for the future success of the BALTDEFCOL. The participants included representatives of the universities of Tartu, Vilnius and Latvia, the Estonian National Defence College, the Lithuanian Military Academy, the Royal Danish Defence College, the Swedish National Defence College, the UK Joint Services Command and Staff College, the Canadian Defence Academy and NATO Defence College.

The first half of the workshop will be devoted to exploring various options of allowing officers, studying at the Baltic Defence College, to work simultaneously towards an academic degree at the selected civilian universities. Managers of academic programmes of the Baltic universities and the Baltic Defence College will consider practicalities and chart the courses of action necessary to achieve this goal. Joint project of the Lithuanian Military Academy and the Baltic Defence College regarding recognition and incorporation of the academic modules of the College within the framework of an MA in Military Diplomacy programme of the Academy will be used as a basis for discussions. The Baltic Defence College has also recognized the need to promote war studies culture in the region as one of the prerequisites for the future success of the school. The College is seizing upon the opportunity of the presence of Baltic academics to demonstrate full and so far untapped potential existing within the field of war studies. Therefore, the second part of the workshop will focus on various possibilities of jointly developing courses, programmes and research activities related to this multi-disciplinary academic subject. In both of its ambitions, the workshop will draw upon advice and input of education and war studies experts from Canada, Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Text by Tomas Jermalavicius