Address by the Head of the School of National Defence
The School of National Defence "Vojvoda Radomir Putnik" traces its roots as far back as 1884, and to this day it has profiled itself as an important military educational institution within the University of Defence. Throughout its turbulent but also rich history, it has changed its names and curricula, but the goal remained the same - training officers and civil servants for the highest military and state duties in a wide range of challenges, risks and threats to security and defence. The school strives, through the preservation of basic national values, to continuously build strategic and operational thought, improve the educational system in the field of security and defence, and develop cooperation in the field of scientific and research activities with similar institutions and organisations in the country and abroad.
During its history, the School of National Defence has changed its name several times:
- Higher School of the Military Academy from 1884 to 1955,
- War College from 1955 to 1972,
- School of People's Defence from 1972 to 1985,
- School of Public Defence from 1985 to 1989,
- War College from 1990 to 1991 and
- School of National Defence since 1993.
In the period from 1993 to 2006, the School of National Defence was a part of the Centre of Military Schools. With organisational and personnel changes in 2006, the School of National Defence became an integral part of the Military Academy, and in 2018 it again became an independent military educational institution within the University of Defence.
By the decision of the President of the Republic of Serbia No. 3-12 of 10th August 2021, the School of National Defence was named the School of National Defence - "Vojvoda Radomir Putnik".
To the present day, the school trained over 10,000 officers for the needs of the Serbian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defence and more than 400 students from other armed forces and armies of the world: Indonesia, Ireland, Zambia, Cape Verde, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the USA, Germany, Belarus, Montenegro, China, the Russian Federation, Macedonia, Austria, Turkey, Angola, Algeria, Greece and the liberation movements of Zimbabwe, Palestine and Namibia. In addition to officers, it trained and perfected other personnel, mainly for performing and organising the most complex tasks in the field of security and defence, in state bodies and local self-government institutions, large economic systems and public enterprises from the Republic of Serbia and from the region.
Today, the School implements special through four levels:
- Basic Command and Staff Course,
- Command and Staff Course,
- General Staff Course and
- Advanced Security and Defence Studies.
In a certain period, it organised the following courses: Course for Parliamentary Control and Supervision of the Security Sector, which was attended by the Members of Parliament, as well as Course for Strategic Managers, intended for officers of the rank of general.
Organised into two organisational units, the Department of Strategy and the Department of Operations, the teaching staff mainly teach at career development courses, but also actively participate in the teaching process at the Military Academy at all levels of military education, from undergraduate academic studies to master and doctoral academic studies.
The School of National Defence is also a regional leader in the field of distance learning that actively provides professional and technical support to numerous foreign military educational institutions in the region.
Traditionally, it organises numerous invited lectures, where participants, as part of regular classes, have the opportunity to hear the views and opinions of the highest state leaders, eminent scientists and experts, distinguished active and retired military personnel, from the country and abroad, on various contemporary problems, challenges and tendencies in the field of security and defence.