Personnel training for the security and defense sector as a prerequisite for ensuring the national security of Ukraine
Authors: Sokurenko V. V. 
Published: January 2022

It has been established that one of the necessary steps in the direction of ensuring national security and citizens’ protection of rights and freedoms is strengthening the institutional, defense and security capabilities of bodies belonging to the security and defense sector. In this regard, it has been argued that a necessary prerequisite for national security is to ensure quality training of specialists for the security and defense sector, which will be able to respond in a timely manner to various crises.

The current state of such personnel training has been characterized. The range of problematic issues on the agenda of the security and defense sector in the direction of improving the efficiency of its operation and improving education has been identified. It has been established that due to the fact that training for security and defense sector bodies is carried out in higher education institutions with specific training conditions subordinated to the relevant central executive bodies, a situation of double subordination arises: these higher education institutions are simultaneously subordinated to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, as well as they must comply with the requirements of the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education. The attention has been focused on the discussion that arises in connection with such subordination. In this regard, it has been argued the need to develop a Concept of personnel training for the security and defense sector of Ukraine and outlined the range of issues that should be reflected in it.

Emphasis has been placed on the need to update the approaches to personnel preparation for the security and defense sector through the introduction of an integrated education system for security and defense staff, within which the principles of specialization and individualization of the personnel training aimed at improving the professional level of specialists should be observed and the introduction of a qualitatively new culture of personnel safety based on the principles and standards of the European Union and NATO.

It has been emphasized that special attention during training for the security and defense sector staff should be paid to the study of possible scenarios of internal and external threats to national security.

It has been argued that to ensure quality personnel training for the security and defense sector, it is important to form a quality system of recruitment and staffing of security and defense forces with professional staff, updating approaches to the selection procedure (both professional and psychological, moral) of candidates for service in the security and defense sector; improving the quality of training of scientific personnel who have special knowledge, skills, abilities and methods necessary to solve problems related to the functioning of the security and defense sector; strengthening practical training, in particular conducting trainings focused on providing practical skills and abilities to resolve conflicts without the use of special tools and weapons; improving the quality and intensity of joint training of defense forces to conduct strategic actions.