Mission Statement
The RNoNA provides professional military education within the three branches
operative, technical and logistics. The education satisfies the Navy’s and
Armed Forces’ need for competence. The Academy is primarily responsible for
educating naval officers, but is also in charge of educating logistics officers
for the Army, the Air Force and the Armed Forces’ joint institutions.
The RNoNA offers study programmes of 3-3.5 years,
leading to bachelor degrees, and integrates military leadership education with
branch courses. The programmes consist of common core officer education
subjects, leadership training and branch-specific subjects. Admission requires
that the cadets have completed their officer candidate course and fulfil
requirements for university studies, in addition to some specific requirements,
depending on the branch programme.
During the first year the emphasis is on
leadership training, although this is also carried on through the second and
third years. All cadets, regardless of branch, go through common core officer
subjects and leadership training, and are divided into squads of eight cadets,
organised to maximise the breadth of experience within the squads. In the
second and third years the cadets mainly study branch subjects. The education
forms the basis for the first years of a career in the Navy /Armed Forces, and
actively seeks to develop the cadets’ officer identity and give them an
increased understanding of the Navy’s culture and traditions.
On completion of the bachelor programmes the
cadets receive their commissions and may fill officer positions on lower and
medial levels. The education at the RNoNA is geared towards the particular
needs of the Navy, and using the Navy’s own materiel, systems and personnel
gives a pedagogical bonus. All subjects, exercises and activities are adapted
to the naval reality and coordinated to provide the necessary comprehensive
overview.
All branches are co-located at the RNoNA. Thus,
the cadets learn to see their own branch and area of expertise as part of a
larger context where they need to consider the needs of others and make use of
each others’ knowledge and skills in order to achieve common goals.
The Academy
offers the following programmes:
•Basic officer education (BAE ) for service as commissioned officers (Bachelor
in Military Studies).
•Qualification course, a one-year officer course integrated with the BAE for
personnel who already have or will complete a civilian bachelor degree. The
qualification course plus a bachelor degree satisfy the requirements for
officer commission.
•Technical education on officer candidate level (Bachelor of Engineering), for
service as the Norwegian equivalent of non-commissioned officers.
•National Logistics Course, a one-semester module-based course (30 ECTS
credits) in logistics for military and civilian personnel in the Armed
Forces.
.
Basi
c officer education
The main task of the RNoNA is to give cadets basic officer education (BAE), and
the Navy has chosen a unique model that integrates leadership training and
branch education at college level. The aim of the Academy is to educate cadets
to become officers who are able to exercise leadership based in Norwegian
values and naval traditions, while at the same time satisfying rigorous
military and civilian standards.
The Norwegian Armed Forces and the Navy have set
down a framework of documents and demands that must be fulfilled:
•Curriculum regulations for education at the War Academies (all three
Academies)
•The education must satisfy requirements for maritime certificates for the
bachelor programmes in navigation and naval engineering.
•The technical programmes must satisfy the requirements of the National
curriculum regulations for engineering degrees.
•Cadets at logistics and resource management programmes may start graduate
studies on completion of the bachelor degree.
Education in all branches at the RNoNA rests on
three pillars: common core officer subjects, leadership training and
branch-specific subjects. There are two bachelor degree programmes within the
operative branch, one logistics programme (common to all three services) and
three technical branch programmes. They all lead to the degree Bachelor of
Military Studies, with the subtitle “Leadership with a specialisation within
[branch]”. The navigation and naval engineer programmes give the highest
maritime certificates, D1 and M1 respectively. All study programmes seek to
prepare the cadets for their future service in the Armed Forces.
Organisation
The RNoNA has five departments in addition to the Leader Group (Commandant,
Deputy Commandant and Dean). There is one support department, the Staff support
branch (including personnel and resource management, library, IT, materiel,
print shop), and four academic departments: Sea Power and Leadership, Logistics
and Resource Management, Technology, and the Navigation Competence Centre. The
Academy is organised by subject areas rather than study programmes, which means
that each department contributes to all study programmes.