General Staff Course For Officers

The goal of General Staff Course is to train officers to command tactical units of brigade level and to perform higher command and staff duties and other tasks in operational level commands and organisational units of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) within the scope of missions and tasks arising from doctrinal and normative documents in the field of defence of the Republic of Serbia.
The tasks of career development are expanding the existing and acquiring new knowledge, skills and habits that enable the achievement of the goal of the General Staff Course, through:

Familiarisation of participants with:

contemporary security environment and challenges, risks and threats to the security and defence system of the Republic of Serbia;
contemporary international relations, features of military power and physiognomy of war and armed conflicts;
modern security and defence systems and the specifics of strategies and military doctrines of foreign armed forces;
contemporary operational environment and characteristics of modern military operations and their influence on the development of military organisation;
achieved level and directions of development and modernisation of the defence system of the Republic of Serbia, and
tendencies in the development of military sciences and the impact of scientific and technical and technological progress on the improvement and development of the military organisation.

Expanding the knowledge about:

current and potential challenges, risks and threats to security;
common security and defence policy of the European Union;
contents of strategic-doctrinal and planning documents in the field of security and defence of the Republic of Serbia and
strategic planning and defence financing, as well as the management of human and material resources in the defence system.

Training participants for:

noticing, studying and understanding strategic and operational problems and solving them independently and in a team, with a creative and proactive approach;
building, evaluating and reporting on the state of operational and functional capabilities of the organisational units of the Ministry of Defence and the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces;
commanding and leading units and formations of the Serbian Armed Forces of the brigade level and higher organisational units of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defence;
planning operations and commanding and managing them in all phases;
application of valid administrative, operational and material standards that ensure interoperability in multinational operations and
maintenance and development of psychophysical abilities of participants.

The professional profile for which the participants are trained is a professional officer with professional knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for understanding and successful solving of strategic and operational problems and performing tasks within the scope of:

commanding and leading units and formations of the Serbian Armed Forces of brigade level and higher;
management of organisational units of the Ministry of Defence and
managing projects in the defence system.

The General Staff Course is organised and implemented as a regular career development course, in accordance with the Law on Military Education ("Official Gazette of the RS", No. 36/2018 of 18^th May 2018 and "Official Military Gazette", No. 16/18 of 22^nd May 2018), Rulebook on Forms of Career Development and Special Conditions, Method and Procedure of Implementation of Special Career Development Courses for Professional Members of the Serbian Armed Forces and Civil Servants ("Official Military Gazette", No. 11 of 14^th May 2019) and the corresponding by-laws.
The School of National Defence - "Vojvoda Radomir Putnik" is in charge of the organisation and implementation of the General Staff Course. The Course generally starts at the beginning of September of the current year, and finishes in July next year, and is divided into two terms.
The Head of the General Staff Course is Colonel Zoran Jekić.