Making military academies attractive

The Ministry of National Defense, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, is looking for ways to make a career in the armed forces more appealing to young people who fill out applications for national university entry exams.

This year’s picture was dismal, as 460 places remained vacant for admission to the higher military educational institutions (Evelpidon School, Hellenic Naval Academy and Icarus School) and the higher military schools of non-commissioned officers. 

This trend did not come out of nowhere, but is the result of a multi-year deterioration of all indicators related to military education, including the financial crisis of the previous decade, during which the number of entrants had decreased dramatically. 

The persisting problem with the decreasing number of graduating officers is causing a headache, especially at the Naval Academy, as combined with the resignation of active officers, it creates serious problems in the staffing of combat units.

In response the ministers of national defense, Nikos Dendias, and education, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, will in the coming days announce a batch of measures expanding the scope of subjects available at military schools.

Secondly, the Defense Ministry will announce the readjustment of the salaries of students in military schools to the standards of the police schools – i.e. move to two thirds of the first salary of a new officer from the quarter that it is today. 

The third measure concerns the state of the infrastructure in military schools, which is leniently judged as average. The Defense Ministry plans to renovate the military schools to meet modern standards so that the quality of life of students is vastly improved. 

The fourth action, already implemented in the framework of promoting domestic scientific research for the military sector, is the enhancement of study programs and the ability of higher military educational institutions (ASEI) to confer doctoral degrees. This feature is especially important since it enables ASEIs to conduct industrial research, which is then absorbed for the benefit of the armed forces.

Beyond these short-term measures, which are expected to be announced in the coming days, the Defense Ministry is debating how to reintroduce career military professions to a new generation with very different expectations than their parents and grandparents. And, primarily, to make it appealing to the most ambitious (high-flyers), who, of course, prefer to be tested in the private sector, where they can earn more money and have a higher quality of life.