In the next ten years, 15 universities will be opened to train command personnel, from drone specialists to military engineers.
In 2025, the Russian Ministry of Defense began to transform the military personnel training system. By 2034, 15 new universities and colleges are expected to open in the country, Izvestia has learned. We are talking about both the revival of the country's oldest educational institutions and the creation of completely new areas of military education. The priority for 2025 was to strengthen the engineering corps and train specialists for unmanned systems troops. The heroes of the special operation came to the classrooms together with the school graduates. This step is intended not only to fill the shortage of personnel, but also to adapt the army to the challenges of a new generation of armed conflicts, experts stressed.
Expanding the network of military universities
In 2025, the first results of a large-scale program for the transformation of the military personnel training system launched by the Ministry of Defense began to appear. On August 30, the Higher Military Engineering College was officially opened in Saratov. Its main task is to train engineers and officers capable of solving urgent tasks in the field of radiation, chemical and biological protection (RCBZ). The program is built taking into account the real threats and lessons of a special military operation.
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In addition to academic activities, the university will conduct research in the interests of national defense. Up to 600 cadets will be able to study at the school at the same time. After a five-year cycle, graduates will be awarded the rank of lieutenant and the qualification of engineer.
At the same time, one of the oldest educational institutions in the country, the Higher Military Engineering Command School, was reopened in the Nizhny Novgorod region, in the city of Kstovo. After a 15-year break, the university accepted the first 150 people.
In 2026, it is planned to launch three more universities — Chelyabinsk Tank, Ulyanovsk Aviation and Novocherkassk School of Communications.
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Experts note that many of these establishments previously existed, but were closed during the past reforms. Now, the army is in urgent need of lower- and middle-level officers for new formations and military districts.
—The experience of the SVO has shown that modern conflicts require not only classical knowledge, but also the ability to work in conditions of mass use of high—precision weapons and protective equipment," military expert Viktor Litovkin explained to Izvestia.
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Of course, there is a problem of recruiting scientific and pedagogical staff to 15 universities at once, even if for ten years, the former deputy of one of the military universities for academic affairs noted in an interview with Izvestia. But the ways to solve it are clear.
"They will involve specialists with experience in their own field," he believes. — They will be taken to the adjunct school for the training of scientific and pedagogical personnel. According to the social policy of the state, officers who have been injured will be involved there first of all. They will hold academic positions in the future. They will also attract specialists from military training centers located at Russian federal universities.
The geography of the new universities will cover the whole country: from the Moscow region to Khabarovsk, where a branch of the Military Medical Academy will appear in 2034.
Specialists for troops of unmanned systems
A special place in the new strategy is occupied by the training of specialists for new troops of unmanned systems. This year, the Ministry of Defense discussed the creation of the first specialized higher military school of this branch of the armed forces. It should start operating in 2027 in the Moscow region, sources told Izvestia.
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Unmanned systems troops require not only UAV operators, but also system commanders and engineers. For example, planning officers who are able to develop operations where swarms of drones play a key role, said military expert Alexei Leonkov. It is expected that the university will be divided into specializations: aviation, ground-based and marine unmanned systems.
Before that, there were no specialized military universities in the field of unmanned systems in Russia. And while the specialized school is preparing to open, the training of UAV commanders is taking place on the basis of existing schools. In particular, the Zhukovsky and Gagarin Air Force Academy has a faculty of unmanned aircraft. And at the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School, the training program "The use of units with unmanned aerial vehicles" is being implemented.
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In 2025, the first faculty of unmanned aircraft also began work at the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School (MosVOKU). The competition for a new specialty was about five people per place. A significant part of the first set consisted of the participants of the SVO. In one of the 80 companies of cadets, more than half already have combat experience, and many of them are former stormtroopers and signalmen who consciously chose this specialty.
— The future belongs to UAVs. From my experience, I can say that fighting is now unthinkable without a drone," cadet Ivan Charuysky, who came to the school after being wounded four times in his combat zone, told Izvestia.
The training program is as close to reality as possible: cadets "fly" on simulators and training grounds, practicing interaction with assault groups, learning to repair and improve equipment on their own. In the coming years, this training model will become the standard for the entire Russian military education system.
Julia Leonova
