Australian Defence Force Academy

The Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) is a tri-service military academy that provides military and academic education for junior officers of the Australian Defence Force in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) as well as international trainee officers from a variety of countries. In 2016, the academy began accepting civilian students in its undergraduate courses.

Tertiary education is provided by the University of New South Wales' Canberra campus, known as UNSW Canberra at ADFA, which is the awarding body for ADFA qualifications. Apart from educating future leaders of the Australian Defence Force, UNSW Canberra also provides postgraduate programs and short courses both to Department of Defence personnel and the general public.

The stated purpose of ADFA is "to serve Australia by providing the Australian Defence Force (ADF) with tertiary graduates who have the attributes, intellect and skills required of an officer".

ADFA is located in the suburb of Campbell, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, near the Australian Government district of Russell. It is situated next to Mount Pleasant, which gives some parts of ADFA a view over the rest of Canberra. ADFA is also adjacent to the Australian Army military academy, the Royal Military College, Duntroon.

Junior officers who attend the Australian Defence Force Academy hold the rank of Midshipman (MIDN) in the Royal Australian Navy, Officer Cadet (OCDT) in the Australian Army or Officer Cadet (OFFCDT) in the Royal Australian Air Force.

After World War II, each of the three Armed Services adopted, as policy, that the educational standards should be raised for officers in training.^{[citation needed]}

In 1967, an agreement was reached between the Department of Defence and the University of New South Wales, under which they would co-operate to develop the Royal Military College (RMC) into a degree-level institution. To that end, the university established the Faculty of Military Studies at RMC to conduct courses leading to the award of the university's degrees in arts, science and engineering.

Also in 1967, the University of New South Wales entered into an association with the RAN College enabling it to present approved courses. Subsequently, first year courses for certain University programs in arts, science and engineering were introduced. Successful cadets were sponsored by the Navy to complete bachelor's degrees on the university's campus.