Page 9 - The Cormorant Issue 14

Cormorant Magazine Interviews Advanced Course Director Brigadier Shaun Burley MBE
CM: In these fiscally challenged times, difficult decisions are being asked of top management in Defence. What impact do you think this will have on the JSCSC and specifically the ACSC? If you were ordered to suggest ways of reducing expenditure on the ACSC by 25%, which are the areas you would make com- promises in?
SB: I think that Defence is just starting to realise the importance of education and I know that I have spoken a number of times to the student body when I have been on the stage about the Future Character of Conflict paper, and in there the piece that says that our people will be our edge and that will be our advan- tage for the future. Easy to say, very difficult to actually give that substance; but I think that our Course is a very good example where the focus is on education. It’s a broad education, it’s a reasonably deep education and I think it really does give you the ability of a little tool kit that allows you to tackle quite complex problems and come up with some pretty reasonable conclusions and solutions to those problems.
So that’s a ‘bumper sticker’ for what we are trying to do here and I think that wider Defence is just starting to get it and recognise the value of it. And don’t forget you are on ACSC 14; it’s only the fourth course in this new structure following a significant review after ACSC 10. So there is a whole body of people out there, who don’t know what this course is about. What does all that mean? Well, what I’m getting at is that I think the Staff College and our reputation here is going to be preserved. That’s not to say that there aren’t savings that could be made at the Staff Col- lege and certainly not to say that there could be savings made across the Defence Academy. But I think the Staff College will be preserved and I think the ACSC will be preserved. Were we forced to make reductions, then you can do one of two things: you either reduce quality or you reduce throughput. Neither of those is within my gift, they are owned by the Customer Execu- tive Board, that is primarily the Front Line Commands, and they would have to say to us to reduce the throughput or state which training objectives they no longer require. It’s difficult to say but I think we are meeting our requirement for students and certainly delivering on the Training Objectives set and it would be those that would have to be changed.
CM: The SDSR has had a significant impact on all of us; how well do you think that the ACSC has prepared the students of Course 14 to deal with the challenges when they leave the college?
SB: I’m going to hold my powder dry on that one. I’ll tell you why: I don’t think we’ve had sufficient detail yet to really analyse what you are going to have to do when you face SDSR at the end of the course. That’s a bit of a glib answer but that is as fair as I can be because I still don’t think that the structure that has been announced is the one we are going to end up with, because I don’t think we will make the in-year savings and therefore let’s have a look and see where the next level of cuts are going to go. You lot will then have to front up to them. It’s been made quite clear that you are all going to inherit these challenges and they are going to be significant. That’s not to say it’s not going to be exciting and challenging; of course it is! But, we’ve got serious efficiencies and economies to deliver and that’s going to be challenging.
CM: In your view, what makes the JSCSC the best place in the world for military officers to study?
SB: I don’t know that it’s the best place in the world; I think that it’s a pretty good place and I think the reflection of it being a good place is the number of international students who wish to come and be educated here amongst us. I think that is down to the balance that we currently have on the course in terms of balance between the military and academic sides and the partnership that we have with King’s College is a big draw; the fact that we can offer an MA as well as psc(j) qualification. Its worth saying that the course is designed to enable people to get a psc(j) quali- fication and with a bit of extra work, its accredited by King’s for an MA, which is a bonus and is not an insignificant draw in itself. So I think that it’s a pretty good place.
CM: If you were selling the ACSC to potential future students, what would you say to them to persuade them that a year spent at Shrivenham is a year well spent?
SB: As a Brigade Commander I had blokes in my Brigade who were the right age and qualified for Staff College and they didn’t really understand what it would give them and I think that’s a reflection of the Army losing its way in not understanding what Staff College was for. The Army has changed its view now and it is linking attendance at Staff College with promotion to lieutenant colonel, so we now understand. I think that the other two Ser- vices have always understood it, certainly the Service Secretar- ies still believe that you lot are genuinely the top 25% of your peer group and therefore this is preparing you for higher command and staff appointments; that is what Staff College is all about.
CM: Do you think that military education and academia sit well together or is there an inherent conflict in this viewpoint?
SB: I think they do sit well together and the partnership here with King’s is a really good example of how they can work together very, very well, because there are bits of the Course that have to be a military lead and there are bits of the Course that have to be an academic lead. Other staff colleges, such as France, Italy, Germany with whom we work very closely, also have similar sorts of relationships: academics in support of military staff.
CM: The range of speakers addressing the course has been wide and occasionally controversial. Do you think there is a dan-
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