Head of ESDC

A. Short biography of the Head of the ESDC, Mr Dirk DUBOIS

Dirk Dubois graduates from the Belgian Military Academy with a master degree in social and military science in 1985. In the first part of his career he occupies several operational posts, including abroad, and positions as a staff officer. From 2007 to 2012 he is a training manager at the ESDC, before joining the Directorate-general for education of the Belgian MoD.

On 01 April 2015, he is appointed as Head of the ESDC. In December 2017, the EU Member States decided to prolong his mandate by consensus until 2022.

B. The Head’s Vision about the College

The cornerstone of the College is formed by high-quality courses with ensured, objectively measurable learning outcomes, meeting a clearly identified training requirement, deriving from the EU civilian and military training groups or directly from the Member States. The ESDC has to preserve and cherish its network character, whilst relying to the highest extent possible on the existing structures and on automated systems for administrative tasks. The network is the best suited asset to spread knowledge about the common security and defence policy effectively across the EU and its neighbourhood and to enhance a common security and defence culture.

The ESDC will remain a flexible organisation that can easily react to new requirements and will be able to support the external action of EU Member States and Institutions, including by reaching out to partners worldwide for mutual benefit.

C.  Our Strategy to achieve our vision

The ESDC should use as much as possible its advantages as a well-functioning network to exchange knowledge and experience between its network members. At the same time, the good relations with the crisis management structures must be maintained and cultivated to ensure access to top-level, subject matter expert lecturers from the EU Institutions. In cooperation with the secretariat, the course directors shall provide timely, clear and ample guidance to the lecturers. The cooperation with the structures and synergies with relevant agencies as EUISS, EDA and EU SatCen ensure that the ESDC remains well informed about any and all developments in the field of CSDP/CFSP.

The ESDC’s approach to training must remain comprehensive, both through a network composed of approximately one half civilian training providers and one half military training providers, and by the composition of its training audience consisting of an equally large part of military personnel, diplomats and civil servants (including police officers) from the Institutions, the Member States, Third States and International Organisations.

The curricula of the ESDC shall be based on the European Qualification Framework (EQF) in order to align whenever possible to the European Higher Education Area. An additional advantage of the EQF descriptors is that they are independent from the teaching environment. This allows adapting the chosen pedagogic approach to cater for the circumstances, the audience present and the preference and personal style of the lecturer.

The preferred approach for training should remain blended learning. This includes the use of the e-Learning system but also includes different forms of learning. In view of the mixed composition of the typical ESDC course participants, with different professional backgrounds and coming from different Member States, each with its own traditions when it comes to teaching, education and training, different working forms must be included in all ESDC courses.

In my view, the key to high quality courses is a thorough and objective evaluation of all aspects of a course. This starts with establishing the requirement for a course and continues during and after the e-Learning and residential phases. The level 1 evaluation provides an excellent basis to differentiate between an excellent and a mediocre lecturer. Secretariat and network institute’s resources permitting, the other evaluation levels of the Kirkpatrick model should also be considered.

Quality should also be the focus in other aspects of the work of the College, notably in its electronic footprint. The ESDC’s webpage and its other publications should be up to date and provide easy and quick to find information on the organisation and functioning of the College, on the courses it provides and the academic programme. The e-Learning content should be the reference for on-line training in CSDP/CFSP.

An open and transparent communication must be maintained with the EU crises management structures, with regional and thematic desks in the EEAS, with relevant DGs in the Commission, as well as with EU agencies and of course with the Member States, so as to be able to provide support to new training requirements and initiatives. A can-do attitude is paramount to this, whilst always keeping in mind the consequences for the limited resources of the College.

The ESDC should continue to develop its training offer in line with its current training policy, addressing different levels of participants, generalists and specialists with different courses. In line with the political agendas of the EU Institutions and of the Member States, the ESDC courses should remain open for participation of Third States whenever appropriate and in some cases even be devoted to further develop cooperation and mutual understanding with certain regions or countries.