| National Defence University | |
| Native Name: | |
| Established: | 1993 |
| Type: | Public |
| Rector: | Major General Mika Kalliomaa |
| Students: | 850 (academic degree) 1,000–1,300 (courses) |
| City: | Helsinki |
| Country: | Finland |
| Campus: | Santahamina |
| Free Label: | Flag |
| Affiliations: | ISMS |
| Website: | http://www.mpkk.fi/ |
The Finnish National Defence University (Finnish: Maanpuolustuskorkeakoulu, MPKK, Swedish: Försvarshögskolan) is a military university located in Helsinki. The university trains officers for the Finnish Defence Forces and the Finnish Border Guard. The main campus is located in Santahamina, Helsinki.
Prior to 2007, the school referred to itself, in English, as the National Defence College.
The first army officer school in Finland, then part of Sweden, was, which was founded by Georg Magnus Sprengtporten in 1780 in Kuopio and relocated to Rantasalmi in 1781. Initially, it was established to train officers for the Savo Brigade of the Swedish Army, but soon it began to recruit cadets from all of Finland. The school continued operation even after the Finnish War in 1809, where Finland was ceded to the Russian Empire. However, in 1818, a fire broke out in the building, and the school was moved to Hamina to become the Hamina Cadet School.
The Hamina Cadet School was trained officers for the Russian Empire. It was abolished on July 24, 1903[1] under the influence of various orders given during the first period of repression of Finland by the Russian Empire.
After independence, the Finnish officer training was always divided among three schools until 1992: initial education at the Finnish: Kadettikoulu ("Cadet School", abbreviated KADK,[2] founded in 1919), General Staff Officer Training at the Finnish: [[War College (Finland)|Sotakorkeakoulu]] ("War College", founded in 1924), as well as continuous training at the Finnish: Taistelukoulu ("Battle School", founded in 1927). From the beginning of 1993, all of these schools were merged into the National Defence University, one of the largest colleges of higher education for officer education.
In 2001, the Finnish: [[Maanpuolustusopisto]] (a military junior college) in Lappeenranta was decommissioned, but the school was immediately repurposed to provide freshman and army training for the National Defence University, as the Army Academy (Finnish: Maasotakoulu, "Land Warfare School").
| Rank | Name | Term | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kenraalimajuri / Major General | (born 1934) | 1993-1994 | |
| Kontra-amiraali | (born 1945) | 1994-1996 | |
| Kenraalimajuri | (born 1941) | 1997-2001 | |
| Kenraalimajuri | (born 1944) | 2001-2004 | |
| Kenraalimajuri | (born 1954) | 2004-2009 | |
| Kenraalimajuri | (born 1954) | 2009-2013 | |
| Kontra-amiraali | (born 1958) | 2013-2015 | |
| Kenraalimajuri | (born 1960) | 2016-2018 | |
| Kenraalimajuri | (born 1961) | 2018-2021 | |
| Kenraalimajuri | (born 1966) | 2021- |
It is possible to get the following degrees in the National Defence University:
The following establishments are responsible for the branch- or service-specific education of the students:
Besides these, Military Museum of Finland, National Defence Courses departments and the National Defence University Library operate under National Defence University.