Soviet Military Academies

Soviet Military Academies

There are a number of military academies in Russia of different specialties. This article primarily list Armed Forces of the Russian Federation institutions.

Russian, and previously Soviet Armed Forces institutions referred to as "academy" (Russian: академия, akademiya) are post-graduate professional military schools for experienced commissioned officers who already have the equivalent of a Bachelor's degree. Upon graduation, these officers receive the equivalent of Master's degree and (if trained in military leadership) are appointed as battalion commanders or higher (from Lt. Colonel and up). Graduates having non-command training are appointed to various staff positions that are normally equivalent in rank to Major or Lt. Colonel.

Also, military academies prepare commissioned officers on the Kandidat Nauk (Russian: кандидат наук) level, which is an equivalent of the Ph.D. degree. This advanced research-oriented degree is required for filling faculty positions in military schools and defense research institutes. Carefully selected experienced researchers in military academies hold limited-term positions as senior scholars leading to the prestigious post-doctoral Doktor Nauk (Russian: доктор наук) degree, which has no direct equivalent in the Western countries. This degree is normally a prerequisite for filling full professor positions in the institutions of higher learning.

There also are a number of officer commissioning schools for the various services known variously as Higher Military Schools or Institutes.

As of 2010 a major reorganization of Russian military officer education, spanning the entire range from the General Staff Academy down to the officer commissioning schools, is underway.