This book has as its subject matter the academic education of officers and builds on the signing of the Bologna Declaration in 1999 by twenty-nine European ministers for Education and Science, who thereby agreed to coordinate higher education across Europe, by, for instance, the implementation of the Bachelor's and Master's system.

Part I Institutional Settings and Change Processes.- Chapter 1. Governing Academic Education and Research in the Military in the Context of University Reforms.- Chapter 2. Making the Academic Turn: How Bottom-up Initiatives Drove Education Reform at the Netherlands Defence Academy.- Chapter 3. Character Is (the) Key! The Application of Virtue Ethics to Improve Officers' Education.- Chapter 4. A Performative Account of the Use of Oaths to Enhance Integrity within the Military.- Part II Educational Philosophy.- Chapter 5. Officer Bildung: A Philosophical Investigation of Preconditions for Military Character Education.- Chapter 6. A Critical Appraisal of the Bildung Ideal in Military Ethics Education.- Chapter 7. Reflective Practice in Synthetic Expeditionary Task Forces.- Chapter 8. From Thinking Soldiers to Reflecting Officers - Facts and Reflections on Officers' Education.- Chapter 9. Five Critical Success Factors for Coaching. A Perspective on Educating Reflective Practitioners.- Chapter 10. Mindfulness in the Dutch Military - Train your Brain.- Chapter 11. The Impact of Educational Characteristics on the Development of Cadets from Novices to Experts.- Chapter 12. Determinants of Academic Performance in Bachelor Theses: Evidence from the Faculty of Military Sciences at the Netherlands Defence Academy.- Part III Didactical Solutions.- Chapter 13. Iconic Images and Military Education: A Delicate Relationship.- Chapter 14. Bologna Meets the Battlefield - Using Historical Battlefields in Modern Academic Military Education.- Chapter 15. The Staff Ride as Reflective Practicum - Impressions and Experiences of the Faculty of Military Sciences and Maynooth University.- Chapter 16. Policy for Cadets and Midshipmen - Teaching Dutch Security and Defence Policy at the Netherlands Defence Academy.- Chapter 17. Legal Education: A Matter of Motivation? An Overview of Aspects of Legal Education for Officers.- Chapter 18. Military Engineering - Practice, Education and Research in The Netherlands; The Golden Triangle.- Part IV International Perspectives.- Chapter 19. A European Army of Thinking Soldiers - European Academic Officers' Education: Challenges and Opportunities.- Chapter 20. Lilliputians Divided: How Service Statutes Fragment Lithuanian Security Services.- Chapter 21. What Sets the Officer Apart? Dutch and Danish Educational Reforms Leading to the Habitus of the Thinking Soldier.- Epilogue.