Сокол Лариса Николаевна

Contemporary armed force increasingly demands professionalization, resulting in the search for new forms of higher military education, including cooperation with civil universities. Within the ongoing reform of the Russia’s military higher education system, a new type of educational institutions, military training centers (MTCs) has been introduced. In the new education system, MTCs are in-between military academies and traditional military departments in civil universities. The article reports the findings of a sociological study conducted to reveal motivation, life strategies and attitudes toward military education and career among the MTC cadets, military departments’ students and undergraduates of the Russian Far East universities (N=600). Contrary to expectations, students of the military departments were found to have significantly more pro-military attitudes, whereas MTC cadets are characterized by the lack of social adaptation, vaguer life prospects, and some inconsistency between experience and expectations. At the same time, for the whole sample material benefits associated with military career are perceived as strong and important, probably reflecting unfavorable socioeconomic situation in the region.

The progress of modern armed forces (AF) increases demand for skilled and qualified army personnel, and especially commissioned officers. Although military academies are the core of higher military education, the role of civil educational organizations increases. In Russia, military training in civil universities is currently proposed by recently created Military Training Centers (MTC), which gradually substitute military departments. Graduates of MTC pass through more intense training and are obligated to serve in AF for three years. The closest analog of MTC in foreign countries with strong AF is Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) in USA and some other countries. The article analyzed current state of ROTС and its contribution to U.S. military personnel. More than one thousand U.S. colleges and universities offer ROTC programs. ROTC is one of the most important sources of commission for U.S. AF, which accounts for approximately one third of new commissioned officers. ROTC’s share is the largest in Army and Air Force. Both scholarship and non-scholarship ROTC programs exist and contribute to AF, although Air Force is more popular for non-scholarship programs. ROTC students are obligated to serve 3 to 5 years depending on a program; a branch-to-serve program in Army ROTC allows the choice of a more preferred branch in exchange for additional years of serve. Unlike MTC, ROTC system proposes a more intense military training, is more large-scale and flexible, allowing alternative careers and life-courses for students. Due to high independence of colleges and universities, ROTCs became an alternative channel of social mobility in the military. A combination of collaborative and competitive relations between higher education system and the Department of Defense provides favorable conditions for commissioned officers development

Military Training Centers (MTC) are a new institution of higher military education in Russia. They are characterized by specific features, which place them between military education in specialized military institutions, and traditional military departments in civil universities. The analysis of MTC in terms of student’s motivation and values, military identity, life strategies, and educational outcomes, shows that MTC students are characterized by unique social attributes and thus compose a separate social group. This fact legitimates creation of MTC as a new form of military education. To make MTCs more effective, it is necessary to pay a special attention to military identity formation, quality of professional training, promotion of military career perspectives, development of personality and psychological traits and competencies crucial for future officers.