Officers' Training Corps

Headline text

The Officer Training Corps (OTC) is a part of the British Army which provides military leadership training to students at UK universities. The name Officer Training Corps is misleading in that its mission is not the training of Officers; only a minority of OTC members go on to join the Regular or Territorial Army. However, in recent years UOTCs have been given targets to recruit members into the Regular or Territorial Army (although the mission statement (see below) has not changed). It is similar in some ways to US ROTC, however there is a fundamental difference in that ROTCs are actually Officer Training Establishments and thus have a rather different ethos and work ethic.

History

Although some UOTC can trace their origins even earlier, the modern OTC was founded during the Haldane Reforms in 1908 to remedy a critical shortage of officers during the South African War (1899-1902). Initially it had a senior division, in eight universities, and a junior division, in public schools. During the First World War, the senior OTCs became officer producing units and some 30,000 officers passed through, but after the war reverted to their basic military training role. During the 1930s they began to increase in strength and peaked in 1938 during the Munich Crisis, and in the Second World War they again became officer producing units for the army. In 1948, the senior divisions became part of the Territorial Army and women were accepted for the first time with the formation of Women's Royal Army Corps sub units (women are now fully integrated into all sections). The junior divisions, by then renamed the Junior Training Corps, became the Army Sections of the Combined Cadet Force. For the next twelve years until its abolition in 1960, the corps aim was to prepare students for National Service.

Present Day

OTC members are classed as Officer Cadets and are members of "Group B" of the Territorial Army, paid when on duty. As part of Group B of the TA they are neither trained nor liable for mobilised (active) service and do not receive the same annual bounty payment as members of the TA proper. They can gain appointments to Junior Under Officer and Senior Under Officer and can also gain commissions as Second Lieutenants. Cadets have no obligation to join the armed forces when they leave university and can resign from the OTC at any time. The officers and non-commissioned officers, who function as instructors and administrative and support staff, are a mixture of Regular Army, Territorial Army and Non Regular Permanent Staff.

There are 19 University Officers Training Corps (UOTCs) throughout the UK, each of which serves the universities in a distinct geographic area. Those serving larger areas may have several detachments. Each UOTC is effectively an independent regiment, with its own cap badge and other insignia, its own stable belt and its own customs and traditions.

Several OTC units specialise in infantry training. Others are split into a number of sub-units representing different arms and services, which cadets join when they have completed their initial training. On 1 April 2005 there were 4,257 personnel in the OTC.

Mission Statement

The mission statement of the Officers Training Corps is: To develop the leadership potential of selected university students through enjoyable and challenging training in order to communicate the values, ethos and career opportunities of the British Army.

Individual Units

	Recruits From	External Website
Aberdeen UOTC	Aberdeen University and Robert Gordon's University	[1]
Birmingham UOTC	Universities of Birmingham, Warwick, Aston, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Keele and UCE	[2]
Bristol UOTC	University of Bristol, University of Bath, University of the West of England and Bath Spa University	[3]
Cambridge UOTC	Cambridge University, The University Of East Anglia and Anglia Ruskin University	[4]
City Of Edinburgh UOTC	University of Edinburgh, Napier University, Heriot-Watt University and Queen Margaret's University	[5]
East Midlands UOTC	Nottingham University, Loughborough University, Leicester University, Nottingham Trent University, De Montfort University Leicester, Derby University and Lincoln University	[6]
Exeter UOTC	Exeter University, Plymouth University, Marjon	[7]
Glasgow and Strathclyde UOTC	Glasgow University, Strathclyde University, Glasgow Caledonian University, Paisley University	[8]
Leeds UOTC	Leeds Universities, Bradford University, Huddersfield University, York University and Hull University	[9]
Liverpool UOTC	University of Liverpool, Lancaster University, Liverpool John Moores University, Hope College, University of Central Lancashire, Edge Hill University College, St. Martins College, Chester College	[10]
Manchester and Salford UOTC	University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Salford	[11]
Northumbrian UOTC	Universities of Newcastle, Northumbria, Durham, Teeside and Sunderland	[12]
Oxford UOTC	Oxford University, Oxford Brookes University, Reading University, Royal Agricultural College Cirencester and Gloucester University, Royal Military College Shrivenham	[13]
The Queen's UOTC	Queen's University, University of Ulster	[14]
Sheffield UOTC	University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University	[15]
Southampton UOTC	University of Winchester, Solent University, Bournemouth University, Southampton University, Portsmouth University	[16]
Tayforth UOTC	St. Andrews University, Dundee University, Abertay University, Stirling University	[17]
ULOTC University Of London Officers Training Corps	Anglia, Birkbeck, Brighton, Brunel, Bucks Chiltern, Camberwell College of Arts, (University of the Arts), Canterbury, Central School of Speech & Drama, Central St Martin's School of Art & Design (University of the Arts), Chelsea College of Art & Design (University of the Arts), City Courtauld Institute of Fine Art, East London, Essex, Goldsmith's, Greenwich, Hertfordshire, Heythrop, Imperial, Kent, King's College, Kingston, London Business School, London College of Communication (University of the Arts), London College of Fashion (University of the Arts), London Metropolitan, LSE, Luton, Middlesex, Queen Mary, Roehampton, Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Art, Royal College of Music, Royal Holloway, Royal Veterinary College, SOAS, South Bank, St Georges, St Mary's, Surrey, Sussex, Thames Valley, UCL - Gower Street and Royal Free, Westminster	[18]
Wales UOTC	Cardiff University, UWIC, Aberystwyth, Bangor, Swansea, University of Glamorgan	[19] }