Abstract:

Over the years, Military Sciences have been used in the military environment, without, however, a formal definition. After several decades of using the concept, the formal definition only appears in 2015, when the Military University Institute was created.

However, despite the existence of this definition, there are more specific areas of Military Sciences, which are still without any formal definition, such as Naval Military Sciences or Aeronautical Military Sciences. The students, upon successfully completing the course, taught in one of the autonomous organic units of the Military University Institute, namely in the Naval School, in the Military Academy or in the Air Force Academy, are awarded the master’s degree in their respective area of the Military Sciences.

This study focuses on the Naval Military Sciences. At the Naval Academy, courses are given in several areas: Seamanship, Naval Administration, Mechanical Engineering, Weapons and Electronics Engineering, Marines and Naval Doctors. The master’s degree in Naval Military Sciences is awarded to those students who complete the course in one of these scientific areas.

Although academic degrees in this area of knowledge have been awarded for several decades, and the Naval Academy has been training Officers for more than two centuries, the Naval Military Sciences have never been the subject of a formal definition.

In this sense it is pressing to present a formal definition for the Naval Military Sciences in Portugal, through the analysis of definitions already accepted and used by other countries, in order to legitimize this scientific area. In this way, it will be possible to define the portfolio of competencies that Officers trained in the Naval School should have, allowing them to fulfil the tasks that are statutorily assigned to them.

Keywords:

Portugal, Naval Academy, Military Naval Sciences, Higher Education, Quality Assurance.