UK Sponsored Study Course On Defence Inaugurated

A UK DEFENCE MINISTRY SPONSORED international short study course on “The Governance & Management of Defence” under its Defence Diplomacy Scholarship Scheme, was declared open by Sri Lanka-based British High Commissioner His Excellency Steevan Evans this morning (6th February 2006) at a leading Colombo Hotel.

The Course attended by members of the Armed Forces from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka are scheduled to continue till 17th instant, and covers a wide range of related subjects including Political Foundations, Security & Defence basics, Defence Governance, Constraints on Defence decisions and the political direction of military operations.

Major General U.B.L Fernando, Director General, General Staff at Joint Operations Command in Colombo welcoming the foreign delegates delivered the opening address on the occasion. A total of thirty service personnel and a representative group of local and foreign civil defence administrators are attending this course. British High Commissioner in his remarks to the inaugural session underlined the importance of the course and wished the course best of luck.

This specially-designed Course aims to familiarize students with the need for the political direction of defence, enable civil servants and military officers to locate defence within the global and national security context, encourage civil servants and military officers to build a shared version of the key issues in regional and global security and several other aspects.

The course delivered by Cranfield University, UK in partnership with the UK Ministry of Defence, is to be addressed by Dr Laura Cleary, Colonel Graeme Olle and a few other scholars. British High Commission Defence Attache, Colonel Martin and several Senior Officers of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces graced the inauguration.