NPS VALUE PROPOSITION

The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is 100-percent defense-focused. As a nexus of education, research, and innovation, NPS is focused on the unique needs of the Department of the Navy and Joint Forces, developing warfighters and warfighting solutions.

NPS ensures the technological leadership of future forces. Since its inception in 1909, the core purpose for NPS has not changed— to provide Naval officers with a relevant, advanced graduate education and research opportunities, creating intellectual advantage. Education is the foundation of innovation. Combined with experience, expertise, and research, NPS students and faculty have solved some of the most vexing challenges facing our Navy and national defense.

The NPS Value Proposition: NPS synchronizes student operational experience and graduate education with applied research and faculty expertise, to deliver twice the return on educational investment: relevant warfighting solutions, and leaders educated to understand and employ them.

THE NPS STUDENT 

NPS students are operationally experienced, mid-career officers, including some with recent combat experience. At NPS we teach our students how to think critically and connect strategically. They become proficient at navigating uncertainty, comfortable with ambiguity and skilled at thinking about employing new techniques and technologies in situations they have not thought about before. 

More than half of NPS students are officers of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, with significant representation from the other U.S. Armed Forces and DOD agency civilians studying side-by-side with international officers from 20-40 allied nations at any given time, as well as homeland security practitioners from across the nation.  NPS is an interservice, interagency, and international community dedicated to advancing national security.

Students are selected to come to NPS based on proven operational performance.

Advanced degrees and certificate programs are relevant to their chosen warfighting career, and prepare them to lead and succeed at higher levels of responsibility. Graduates apply their knowledge and solutions upon returning to the Fleet and operational forces.

DEFENSE-FOCUSED RESEARCH 

Collaborative research programs with wide-reaching applications make NPS a world leader in defense-focused graduate education. With numerous centers and academic groups conducting research in diverse areas, students can study everything from defense-related business practices to spaceship design. Most centers take a multidisciplinary approach with advisors from a variety of complimentary disciplines, researchers, and industry partners working together to tackle tough defense issues. The ever-expanding range of cutting-edge programs and accompanying sponsored research inspires NPS student and faculty researchers to look forward into the future. 

FACULTY AT NPS 

The faculty population is comprised of both tenure-track and faculty associate researchers. Faculty at NPS are drawn from the nation’s most prestigious educational institutions, warfare centers, labs, and industry. Active-duty faculty are selected through the Permanent Military Professor program — together they offer a rigorous defense-focused learning experience. Faculty and student interaction is high in the classroom and lab. Every class is taught directly by a faculty member. 

Throughout the institution, senior military officers from across warfighting communities serve as NPS Warfare Chairs, bringing detailed experience and relevance to NPS education and research programs. In addition, agencies such as NASA, the National Reconnaissance Office, Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency add to breadth and depth of the curriculum. A robust mix of tenured faculty, lecturers, and visiting professionals integrate teaching with research and innovation, developing defense-related concepts into capabilities, many times resulting in patent-eligible technologies.

ALUMNI 

NPS boasts alumni from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and well over 100 nations worldwide. NPS graduates are Admirals and astronauts; military, business and community leaders; and defense and homeland security professionals that impact the nation every day. The NPS Distinguished Alumnus Award is granted to those whose professional achievements are significant, while the NPS Hall of Fame Award recognizes alumni or friends who have benefited our society, nation and the university with exemplary careers in public service. These honorees include a former Joint Chief of Staff, former service chiefs, a commander of special operations forces, admirals, generals, defense scientists, and other public officials.

ONLY NPS 

NPS is a Naval command with a graduate university mission. NPS is Responsive to operational needs through Interdisciplinary educational programs that are unlike any at a civilian university. NPS complements the Naval research enterprise through Applied research, leading to Innovative solutions to relevant problems. NPS offers Classified coursework and research in controlled laboratories on a Secure campus.

Our decisive edge is enabled by applied research and high-quality education for our officers and workforce. NPS is the catalyst for this critical fusion and is a competitive advantage for our Naval forces and nation. Research drives technological advantage. Education drives intellectual dominance. Only NPS does both. Combined, we deliver technological leadership.