In their August 2000 Proceedings article, "The Naval Postgraduate School—It's About Value," Admiral Henry H. Mauz Jr., U.S. Navy (Retired), and William Gates made strong arguments about the Naval Postgraduate School's (NPS's) continuing importance—and cost-effectiveness—to the naval service. Admiral Stanley R. Arthur, U.S. Navy (Retired), also weighed in with a letter in the September 2000 Proceedings endorsing the NPS as an invaluable asset. In her July 2000 Proceedings article, "Rethinking the Naval Postgraduate School," retired Lieutenant Commander Janice Graham suggested that the NPS needs a reexamination.
Rethinking how we do our job and the relevance of graduate education are key aspects of life here at the Naval Postgraduate School. Recognizing the increasingly complex future we face, there is now in place an ongoing effort to reorganize the school to provide a better product to the fleet.
Mission
The primary mission of the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is to provide relevant, excellent and innovative education to Navy and Marine Corps officers throughout their careers. To do this effectively, the joint and combined nature of military affairs demands that NPS incorporate military and defense civilians from around the world in the education process. NPS must produce technologically competent warriors, rigorous analysts schooled in the most promising innovative military technologies, and critical thinkers, who later in their careers, are capable of assuming demanding roles at the center of the defense requirements/resource allocation process. To accomplish this mission, NPS will:
- Focus on the integration of the core elements of teaching, research, and continuing education.
- Partner with industry and academia to produce flexible, integrated, interdisciplinary and systems oriented education.
- Provide the education when, how and where it is needed.
This mission will be enabled by developing a comprehensive institutional advancement plan and by leveraging the most revolutionary of business practices in order to operate an effective and efficient educational institution.
At the dawn of the 21st century, the Navy is poised at the intersection of three major movements: the revolution in military affairs (RMA), the revolution in business affairs (RBA), and the revolution in educational affairs (REA).The great advances that are taking place in the worlds of information technology and networking drive all three movements, and NPS is well positioned to provide the Navy with the specialized, advanced education needed to be effective in the new century.
The Navy has embraced "Joint Vision 2010," "Joint Vision 2020," and network-centric operations as the organizing principles for future naval developments, and as the linchpins of the RMA. These principles make it clear that the future operating environment for our forces will be dominated by speed and agility: the speed with which we can understand our environment; the speed with which we share that understanding; the speed with which we make decisions; and the speed and agility with which we can act to achieve our desired effects.
The Navy also is seeking to fundamentally change the supporting business practices of the department. The goal of the RBA is to deliver state-of-the-art capability from modern and creative acquisition and support organizations, building upon lessons learned from the best industry practice.
The revolution in educational affairs is less talked about, but it is no less important to the future. In the broadest sense, the REA is the creation, delivery, and use of knowledge based on the most effective teaching, learning, and information retrieval practices. It is the key to future readiness as it will provide officer and enlisted personnel the means to deal effectively with changes required by new technologies, the rapid pace of innovation, and reduced manning.
Imperatives
"Joint Vision 2010" and "Joint Vision 2020" recognize that high-quality people, innovative leadership, and the right organizational structure are needed to prepare joint warriors for the challenges of future battle. To develop the ideas introduced in those vision statements for network-centric operations, we need a high percentage of officers with graduate-level understanding of science, technology, and management, along with a thorough understanding of systems engineering and integration. We must develop an officer corps with strong analytical and technical skills in areas of simulation science, operational analysis, uncertainty, information and decision sciences, organizational management, management of technology, systems engineering and integration, and regional security studies.
The Naval Postgraduate School is responding to these challenges by realigning its education and supporting research programs to provide:
- Academic programs that are nationally recognized and support the current and future operations of the Navy and Marine Corps, our sister services, and our allies.
- Centers that focus on the integration of teaching and research in direct support of the four pillars of "Joint Vision 2010" and "Joint Vision 2020" and their enabling technologies.
- Executive and continuing education programs that support continuous intellectual innovation and growth throughout an officer's career.
The intellectual and academic base of NPS resides within our faculty and academic departments. To have interdisciplinary educational programs that meet the need for officers described in "Joint Vision 2020," our faculty and academic departments must be recognized as the finest in the nation. We will support, encourage, and reward excellence in all aspects of scholarship. Our academic programs will not be equaled anywhere in the world. They will reflect the high quality of our students and faculty, our ability to be agile and flexible in responding to the needs of our customers, and our ability to provide an education that integrates teaching and research.
Key to providing NPS students the tools and the intellectual capacity to thrive in the world of "Joint Vision 2020" is establishment of centers that integrate teaching and research, faculty and students, and theory and application. Our vision of the future NPS includes development and nourishment of a number of these major centers. They will be built around the existing strengths of NPS in response to the challenges of "Joint Vision 2020" and will involve faculty and students from across the campus. They will provide exceptional and unique capabilities for further experimentation, exercises, analyses, and conceptual developments in support of "Joint Vision 2020" and its implementation. Our centers will have strong working relations with the Navy's Sea-Based Battle Laboratory, Naval Warfare Development Command, industry, and other organizations and universities. What will set these centers apart is integration of NPS students with faculty to work on advanced concepts that ensure our forces remain dominant across the full range of military operations.
It is essential that we expand our range of continuing education options. Our Center for Executive Education will continue to grow and to develop a wider range of programs for our senior officers and civilian executives. To ensure they stay at the cutting edge of developments in military, business, and educational affairs, we will develop new continuing education programs for officers who are not able to attend NPS, as well as for senior managers and alumni at all phases of their careers.
Enablers
The NPS vision for Educational and Informational Technology (EIT) requires that our faculty and staff be experienced in using modern technologies in teaching and learning. We must nurture and sustain efforts in multimedia technology, educational technology, and the technology of distance education. Through the use of distance learning technologies, students on campus and at remote sites at sea, across the nation, and throughout the world will be given broad access to the campus faculty and facilities. Telecommunications and EIT will make it possible for NPS to have an "expanded campus" through which we can provide education how, when, and where there is a demand.
The NPS campus also must reflect the high quality and excellence of our teaching and research. NPS facilities must be developed to meet the future needs of the revolution in educational affairs. We must be able to accommodate students and faculty both on and off campus with the service and support they deserve. To this end, all processes at NPS are under a business process reengineering review to obtain the highest quality product and lowest cost across the command.
Conclusions
The Naval Studies Board determined that education is a generator of readiness with a high rate of return on investment. NPS will be the cornerstone of militarily relevant, graduate-level education for the naval service, other U.S. military agencies, and our allies. We are a highly focused, pragmatically oriented research university dedicated to excellence in teaching, research, and service in pursuit of providing the knowledge required of our forces of today and tomorrow.
As "Joint Vision 2020" states, "the overarching focus of this vision (JV2020) is full spectrum dominance—achieved through the interdependent application of dominant maneuver, precision engagement, focused logistics, and full dimensional protection. Attaining that goal requires the steady infusion of new technology and modernization and replacement of equipment. However, material superiority alone is not sufficient. Of greater importance is the development of doctrine, organizations, training and education, leaders, and people that effectively take advantage of the technology."
NPS is well positioned to provide the Navy with the specialized, advanced education needed to be effective in the new century.
Rear Admiral Ellison is Superintendent of the Naval Postgraduate School.