PME in the Irish context: reflecting on the partnership between Maynooth University and the Irish Defence Forces

Abstract

This article focuses on the partnership between the Irish Defence Forces (DF) and Maynooth University (MU)[1] that has existed since 2002, focused on the provision of officer education primarily at the Military College within the Defence Forces Training Centre (DFTC) at the Curragh Camp in County Kildare. The aim of the paper is to provide insight into the changing nature of the partnership between these two institutions and in doing so to shed light on some of the challenges and opportunities associated with such partnerships in Professional Military Education (PME). The conclusions are set within the wider context of Irish defence, where successive government have placed a very low priority on defence spending, with an inevitable impact on the resources available for military education. It is argued that the Irish experience shows the value of military/academic collaboration, with an emphasis on the idea of ‘partnership’ as an arrangement where two parties agree to cooperate to mutual benefit to achieve shared goals in a spirit of collaboration and mutual respect