page_title: Military Erasmus
section_title: Purpose
hierarchical_section_title: Military Erasmus / Purpose
caption_attribution_description: English: Meeting of the Superintendents of Naval Academies at the Polish Naval Academy (Gdynia), 2011
context_page_description: The Military Erasmus Programme, formally the European initiative for the exchange of young officers inspired by Erasmus, is an initiative undertaken by the European Union member states aimed at developing the exchanges between armed forces of future military officers as well as their teachers and instructors during their initial education and training. Due to the fact that the initiative is implemented by the Member States on a purely voluntary basis, their autonomy with regard to military training is not compromised.
context_section_description: Young officers in training are the future military elites, who will have to work ever more closely together for the realisation and consolidation of the Common Security and Defence Policy, regardless of their nationality or their armed forces. It is essential, with view to improve interoperability and to pave the way for a European security and defence culture, that European military students and cadets share parts of their education and training as early as the basic level and become familiar with their future role and responsibilities in international security.
  The European initiative for the exchange of young officers, inspired by Erasmus, is meant to lower the barriers which may oppose to free mobility of knowledge, skills and competences of future military officers, their teachers and instructors between the European academies, schools, colleges, universities and training centres. To this end, the initiative supplements the action of the fora that have been created by European military institutes of a same service, such as the Conference of Superintendents of Naval Academies (Navy), the European Air Force Academies (EUAFA – Air Force) and the European Military Academies Commandants’ Seminar (EMACS – Land Forces).
  The Conclusions of the Council of the European Union, which founded the European initiative for the exchange of young officers, inspired by Erasmus, have translated these objectives into concrete measures, such as:
  • Measures aimed at increasing the number of exchanges, such as the generalisation of the Bologna process, mutual recognition of the outcomes of exchanges in professional training, greater use of Erasmus mobility for students and personnel, opening of national educational opportunities to young European officers;
  • Measures aimed at teaching/learning about Europe and its defence, such as the creation of a common module on the Common Security and Defence Policy, promotion of the learning of several foreign languages.
caption: Pre-Meeting to the Conference of the Superintendents of the Naval Academies
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