The idea
The idea of having a Bosnian Staff College or Training Centre is not a new one. The International Organisations first surfaced the idea back in the late 1990'ies. The idea gained at that time however no support and the idea died for some years.
The United Kingdom Training Needs Analysis
Following a United Kingdom Training Needs Analysis, The Peace Support Operations Training Centre project was initiated again in July 2001, having identified a need to train young officers in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The analysis concluded that the centre should provide professional military education and PSO training for the Armed Forces of Bosnia-Herzegovina (AFBiH) and other international attendees and also promotes the benefits of inter-entity co-operation, Armed Forces restructuring and assist Bosnia-Herzegovina preparing for PfP-partnership.
 The recommendations from the UK analysis were approved by the International Community, the State of Bosnia-Herzegovina and last but not least the armed forces of the Federation BiH and Republika Srpska.
The signing of the Memoranda of Understanding
The 23rd September 2003 a Memorandum of Understanding between UK and the State of Bosnia-Herzegovina of establishment the Peace Support Operations Training Centre was signed in Sarajevo.
And the 20th November 2003 two Memoranda of Understanding were signed. One between the partner nations concerning the co-operation of the operation of the Training Centre. And one between SFOR and UK for the life support of Peace Support Operations Training Centre.
 The preparation phase
The build up of the PSOTC Staff took place in some containers in Camp Butmir which SFOR had been so kind to make available for the Training Centre. In this location the curriculum and the preparations for the PSO Staff Course were made.
Construction of the PSOTC Building
Construction of the PSOTC Building lasted for a year. It started on March 2004 and ended March 2005.
 View the 'History of Construction'.
The first PSO Staff Course
The first PSO Staff Course started the 7th February 2005. This date is also considered as PSOTC’s birthday. Due to the PSOTC building was not ready at that time the first four weeks of course were conducted in Hotel Hollywood in Ildza (about 4 km from Camp Butmir).
33 officers from Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina and 6 officers from the Partners participated in the first PSO Staff Course. The students from the Partners were two Danish, one French, one Hungarian, one Polish and one US officer.
The Disaster Management Seminar
 BiH conducted its first Disaster Release Exercise in 2004; due to the lessons learn from this exercise the BiH Minister of Defence asked PSOTC if the Training Centre was able to set up a Disaster Management Seminar with the purpose to study and discus aspects of disaster management related to disaster treats in BiH for the benefit of the cooperation between authorities at governmental and local level.
The seminar was sponsored by our academic partner Geneva Centre for Security Policy.
The seminar was conducted in December 2005 and had 36 participants from the following BiH institutions: Parliament of BiH, Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations and Ministry of Security.
The Alumni
PSOTC wanted to keep the contact with the Post Graduates form the PSO Staff Course from AFBiH in order to exchange information between the Post Graduates and the Training Centre for the benefit for both parties. For this reason an Alumni was established the 26th January 2006. 63 out of 93 former students participated in the first session.
The extended PSO Staff Course
Already in 2005 it was identified that the training need for the AFBiH officers had changed. Therefore a new curriculum for the PSO Staff Course was developed in concert with the AFBiH Joint Staff. The result was a 14 week staff course which contents can be studied at our courses page.
The first 14 week course started the 13th March 2006.
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