‘Huge upskilling’ required for UK military
16 September 2013
The UK military of the future will need a range of increasingly sophisticated skills, from languages and understanding various cultures to business subjects such as risk management and programme management, a director of the Defence Academy of the UK has told a London ExCel audience.
Mon, 16 Sep 2013The UK military of the future will need a range of increasingly sophisticated skills, from languages and understanding various cultures to business subjects such as risk management and programme management, a director of the Defence Academy of the UK has told a London ExCel audience.
Speaking at the DSEI 2013 defence exhibition on Friday [13 September], Army Maj Gen Mike Riddle-Webster said “a huge upskilling” would be necessary to equip service members for duty in a leaner force that would have to “understand more complex commercial, legal, technological and ideological issues”.
“We need to educate our people as never before,” he said.
Riddle-Webster is director of the Defence Academy’s College of Management and Technology. The academy is responsible for post-graduate education and most command, staff, leadership, defence management, acquisition and technology training for members of the UK Armed Forces and Ministry of Defence (MoD) civil servants.
The military will have to be trained in “a very different way”, Riddle-Webster said. Skills in financial and commercial matters, portfolio project and programme management, costing and negotiation will be among the most crucial for tomorrow’s military leaders to have.
Noting the contrast between what has traditionally been expected of military officers and what will be in the future, Riddle-Webster said: “None of this [business skills] comes naturally to service officers.”
Knowledge of cyber trends will also be crucial, as will stepping up knowledge of foreign languages and cultures. “In the UK, language training has not been a high priority. For 2020, we need to put this right,” he said.
To accomplish future training, the Defence Academy will rely less on residential courses and more on modular training and blended course design.
Speaking at the DSEI 2013 defence exhibition on Friday [13 September], Army Maj Gen Mike Riddle-Webster said “a huge upskilling” would be necessary to equip service members for duty in a leaner force that would have to “understand more complex commercial, legal, technological and ideological issues”.
“We need to educate our people as never before,” he said.
Riddle-Webster is director of the Defence Academy’s College of Management and Technology. The academy is responsible for post-graduate education and most command, staff, leadership, defence management, acquisition and technology training for members of the UK Armed Forces and Ministry of Defence (MoD) civil servants.
The military will have to be trained in “a very different way”, Riddle-Webster said. Skills in financial and commercial matters, portfolio project and programme management, costing and negotiation will be among the most crucial for tomorrow’s military leaders to have.
Noting the contrast between what has traditionally been expected of military officers and what will be in the future, Riddle-Webster said: “None of this [business skills] comes naturally to service officers.”
Knowledge of cyber trends will also be crucial, as will stepping up knowledge of foreign languages and cultures. “In the UK, language training has not been a high priority. For 2020, we need to put this right,” he said.
To accomplish future training, the Defence Academy will rely less on residential courses and more on modular training and blended course design.
