The Plaque of the University of Defence for Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin

Minister Vulin visited the University of Defence, the Dean’s Office and the departments of the Military Academy, several newly furnished classrooms and laboratories where the cadets have lessons, as well as those that are being furnished and reconstructed.

As a sign of gratitude for years of support and assistance in the work and development of all capacities of the University of Defence, the Rector of that higher education institution, Lieutenant General Goran Radovanović, presented Minister Vulin with the Plaque of the University of Defence, and as tokens of remembrance he presented him with an album of photographs of events that the Minister of Defence attended, valuable editions of the University of Defence and a jersey of the “Akademac” sports club.  

After the visit, Minister Vulin pointed out that in the past three years, the University of Defence has made considerable progress and like other structures in the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, it has provided full support to the implementation of changes in the defence system.

- A significant contribution of this institution is especially reflected in the changes in the field of military education. What is most important for the Serbian Armed Forces is that military sciences have finally been included in the system of sciences in the Republic of Serbia, because they were not recognized as such before. First of all, these are sciences such as tactics, strategy and operational art which are only studied at the University of Defence. In accordance with the inclusion of military sciences in the Rulebook on scientific and educational fields in the Republic of Serbia, military education has been returned to the military, so defence managers are no longer educated at the Military Academy, but upon graduation, cadets who become lieutenants, get the title that they deserve, i.e. they become officers of the Serbian Armed Forces – emphasized the Minister of Defence.

The University of Defence is an institution which currently provides education to 2000 students for the needs of the defence system, but also for the needs of civilian structures. Bearing that in mind, equal attention is devoted to the improvement of material resources and academic staff of this higher education institution.

What marked the past period the most is the renovation and opening of a large number of new classrooms at the Military Academy. Also, the classrooms and dormitories in the Military Grammar School have been renovated. Furthermore, more than 10,000 square metres of accommodation and office space were fully renovated in the hall of residence of the Military Grammar School and the Secondary Vocational Military School, i.e. 130 student rooms on six floors with a total accommodation capacity of 516 beds. Student rooms are furnished with modern furniture and inventory, which allows students to achieve better school results.
 
An important segment of life and work at the University of Defence is sports. Since officers must have adequate psychological and physical abilities, this institution deals with the psychological and physical development of cadets on daily basis. With that in mind, all sports facilities at the Military Academy have been renovated. After reconstruction and modernization, the pistol shooting range became one of the most modern indoor shooting ranges in the Balkans. This has significantly improved the training in the use of weapons, because the shooting range is equipped with a simulator which enables the cadets to prepare for initial shooting. Also, a shooting range for air rifles and air pistols was opened at the Military Grammar School.

  In the past period, a number of training and scientific activities have been carried out at the University of Defence, as part of general undergraduate studies, medical studies at the Medical Faculty of the Military Medical Academy, and career development courses such as the Basic Command and Staff Course, Command and Staff Course, the General Staff Course and the Advanced Security and Defence Studies, and the University of Defence has established good cooperation with numerous universities both in the country and abroad.
 
Thanks to numerous investments, today, the University of Defence is a higher education institution that the defence system and the Republic of Serbia can be proud of.