On 13th April, the Baltic Defence College (BALTDEFCOL) and NATO StratCom COE signed a Letter of Intent on Cooperation that will serve as a platform for long-term and strategic cooperation. The NATO STRATCOM COE delegation was welcomed by BALTDEFCOL Commandant Major General Vitalijus Vaikšnoras, and members of the College Management Group.
Together both parties intend to strengthen their cooperation in education, research, and innovation within the Strategic Communications in Defence area. The agreement also covers new forms of cooperation that extend beyond research, and NATO StratCom COE will in the future be more closely involved in the education process, and will supervise students preparing for their thesis.
With this cooperation, the NATO StratCom COE intends to support BALTDEFCOL’s educational activities such as exercises, electives, students’ essays and theses, exchange subject matter experts, lecturers, researchers and mentors, and provide official visits by BALTDEFCOL students to the Centre during study trips. NATO StratCom COE will use BALTDEFCOL as a test ground for NATO StratCom COE’s Advanced Distributed Learning materials and courses. Both organizations plan to mutually participate in conferences, seminars and roundtable discussions, and exchange unclassified research results.
“Now that BALDEFCOL and NATO StratCom COE are expanding their cooperation, we believe that this will develop the skills of both parties and lead to greater innovation,” said Janis Karklins, Director of the NATO StratCom COE.
This is not the first time that NATO StratCom COE has collaborated with BALDEFCOL, as both parties had previously cooperated in the field of scientific research and worked on the online course on Strategic Communication that will be launched in the early summer this year.
The Baltic Defence College has continually sought to be at the forefront of professional military education to ensure its graduates are well prepared to meet the challenges they will face throughout their careers in war and peace. Within a year of regaining their independence, the Defence Ministers of the three Baltic States agreed to cooperate in officer education, and this cooperation was formalised in 1998 by the signing of an agreement establishing the Baltic Defence College in Tartu, Estonia – with English as its working language.
More information about The Baltic Defence College is available here: www.baltdefcol.org