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| Updated: 04-Nov-2002 | NATO Publications |
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Oberammergau, Germany The NATO (SHAPE) School (Oberammergau) acts as a centre for training military and civilian personnel serving in the Atlantic Alliance, as well as for Partner countries. Its courses are continually revised and updated to reflect current developments in Allied Command Europe and Allied Command Atlantic. Each year a wide range of courses are taught on topics such as weapons employment, nuclear, biological and chemical defence, electronic warfare, command and control, mobilisable forces, multinational forces, peacekeeping, environmental protection, crisis management, and basic NATO orientation. The School is under the operational control of the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR) but operates as an operational facility for both NATO Strategic Commands. A Board of Advisers, consisting of members of the SHAPE and School staffs, provides assistance and guidance. Germany and the United States contribute facilities and logistic support, but the School relies on tuition fees from students to offset its operating costs and is essentially self-supporting. The NATO (SHAPE) School has its origins in the early years of the Alliance's history but received its charter and present name in 1975. For many years its principal focus was on the issues relating to NATO's collective defence. More recently, following the introduction of NATO's new Strategic Concept in 1991, the role of the School was fundamentally altered to include courses, training and seminars in support of NATO's current and developing strategy and policies, including cooperation and dialogue with military and civilian personnel from non-NATO countries. In addition, since the beginning of NATO operations in Bosnia in the context of IFOR and SFOR, the School provides indirect support to current NATO military operations. In 2000, the school taught 50 courses involving more than 5 800 students from 47 nations. Courses are organised in five fundamental NATO operational areas, namely technical procedures; NATO staff officer orientation; NATO operational procedures; NATO-led multinational operational procedures; and current operational policy forums. The School’s Faculty includes staff from NATO countries supplemented by guest speakers from NATO commands and headquarters, NATO and Partnership for Peace countries and world humanitarian and commercial organisations. The focus of all courses is to develop NATO and non-NATO combined joint operational staff officers who can work together more effectively. Non-military participation in courses has increased significantly during recent years, as have the School's contacts with international organisations such as the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the World Bank as well as international journalists and news agencies. In 1994, the School introduced a course on Reserve Forces and Mobilisation which is attended by reserve officers from NATO and PfP countries. The largest growth area in the School's curricula activity has been in support of the Partnership for Peace programme. An initial course on European Security Cooperation was offered in 1991. Additional courses were added in 1993-1994 on CFE Arms Control Verification Inspector/Escort Procedures; Responsibilities of Military Officers in Environmental Protection; Reserve Forces; and Mobilisation and Peacekeeping. Further courses were developed in 1995-1996, in order to prepare PfP and NATO officers to work together on combined-joint staffs. These included Resource Management; NATO Orientation; Civil Emergency Planning/Civil-Military Cooperation; and Multinational Crisis Management. In 1997 the first technical course open to PfP countries was introduced on NBC Defence Warning and Reporting System Procedures. In the same year the School initiated two NATO-sponsored courses for military and civilian leaders of the countries which are signatories to the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Dayton Agreement). The courses focus on the role of professional officers in a democracy and on operational issues and procedures relevant to the implementation of the Agreement. In 1998, a NATO Partner Operational Staff Officers' Course was also introduced. This is designed to educate NATO and Partner Operational Staff Officers in NATO doctrine and procedures for use in NATO-led Combined Joint Headquarters for Peace Support Operations. NATO's core functions also continue to receive attention, for example with the 1998 introduction of a new course on Air Campaign Planning. The school has subsequently added five new operational procedure courses in areas from maritime operations to planning psychological operations. In addition, it has developed an orientation course for Senior NCO's and has further strengthened links to SACLANT. Further developments of the School’s curriculum are being introduced to take account of lessons learned in the context of the NATO-led Stabilisation Force in Bosnia and Kosovo Force in Kosovo, as well as other developments within the Alliance. For example, countries participating in NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue also periodically send students to participate in the School’s multinational courses. 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