Integration in the European higher education area: the case of military education

ABSTRACT

Military training has always been considered as an education system with its own characteristics that distinguished it from the rest of higher education. However, different initiatives have been developed in order to integrate military education in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). This paper analyses the European system of military institutions of higher education (MHEI). Results indicate MHEI sector has distinctive features that have increased the diversity of European HEIs. Further, the emergence of the MHEI sector can have benefits for both the European defence and their educational attainment. From a defence point of view, it can help the development of a European strategic culture and increase cooperation between countries in defence and security. From the education area modernisation, it will improve defence and security related research and may enhance defence knowledge transfer. In this way, the MHEI sector will be positioned as key player in the development of the Common Security and Defence Policy and a European strategic culture.

KEYWORDS:

• European higher education area
• higher education institutions
• institutional characteristics
• military universities

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Benedetto Lepori for giving us the opportunity to visit Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) and the support with ETER database. Financial support from Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia through grants ECO2016-76255-P and ECO2017-86305-C4-2-R, Government of Aragón -Spain- and FEDER 2014–2020 Building Europe from Aragon” COMPETE (S52_17R) research group, University of Zaragoza (grant UZCUD2018-SOC-04) and the Defence University Centre Zaragoza grants 2017–21 and 2018–12;Centro Universitario de la Defensa Zaragoza [2017–21,2018–12].

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Three countries do not have national military education systems and have agreements with other countries to send their nationals. Namely Cyprus, Luxemburg, and Malta.

2. See Callado-Muñoz and Utrero-González (2016) for a complete description of the relationship between military vocational and education training centres in the EU.

3. Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden from the UE and Norway, Serbia, Turkey.

4. 33 institutions out of 39 are from the European Union.

5. It should be noted that the number of students of the Zaragoza DC includes those belonging to the corps of the Civil Guard who study the first two years in the CUD of the land army.

Additional information

Funding

Financial support from Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia through grants ECO2016-76255-P and ECO2017-86305-C4-2-R, Government of Aragón -Spain- and FEDER 2014–2020 “Building Europe from Aragon” COMPETE (S52_17R) research group, University of Zaragoza (grant UZCUD2018-SOC-04) and the Defence University Centre Zaragoza grants 2017–21 and 2018–12;Centro Universitario de la Defensa Zaragoza [2017–21,2018–12].

Notes on contributors

Francisco José Callado-Muñoz

Francisco José Callado-Muñoz Associate Professor at Centro Universitario de la Defensa Zaragoza. PhD in Economics at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain. Author and co-author of more than 20 scientific articles and 10 book chapters. Reserch interests: Defence, Education economics, Financial economics, Payment Systems, Development, Business Economics.

Natalia Utrero-González

Natalia Utrero-González Associate Professor at Centro Universitario de la Defensa Zaragoza. PhD in Economics at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain. Author and co-author of more than 20 scientific articles and 14 book chapters. Research interests: Defence, Education economics, Financial economics, Payment Systems, Development, Business Economics.