University Officers' Training Corps

The University Officers' Training Corps, also known as the Officers' Training Corps, are British Army reserve units, under the command of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, which recruit exclusively from universities and focus on training and developing leadership. Their role is to allow university students the opportunity to undertake modules of Reserve Officer training designed to fit around their degree and to develop the leadership abilities, skills and experience of their members, which could be useful in a future career in the British Army, or skills and training that can be utilised in a civilian career. While in the UOTC, Officer Cadets will undertake the Reserve Officer Training Modules.
University students serving with the UOTC are personnel of the Army Reserve, and are attested and paid when on duty. They are classed as Group B, whilst in the UOTC. Students undergoing service with the UOTC hold the rank of Officer cadet. Students have no obligation to pursue further service in the armed forces when they leave university and can resign from the UOTC at any time. UOTCs are led by officers and non-commissioned officers from the Regular Army and wider Army Reserve.
Each UOTC unit is effectively an independent regiment of the Army Reserve with its own cap badge and other insignia, its own stable belt and its own customs and traditions.
UOTCs also organise non-military outdoor pursuits such as hill walking and mountaineering, as well as fielding teams in other sports which compete against other UOTCs and regiments. There are also opportunities for officer cadets to represent the Army in sports.

History

General history of the units

The emergence of the Officers' Training Corps as a distinct unit began in 1906, when the Secretary of State for War, Lord Haldane, first appointed a committee to consider the problem of the shortage of officers in the Militia, the Volunteer Force, the Yeomanry, and the Reserve of Officers. The committee recommended that an Officers' Training Corps be formed. The Corps was to be in two divisions: a junior division in public schools and a senior division in the universities. In October 1908, therefore, authorised by Army Order 160 of July 1908, as part the Haldane Reforms of the Reserve forces, the contingents were formally established as the Officers' Training Corps and incorporated into the new Territorial Force, which was created by the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907.
During the First World War, the OTCs became officer producing units and some 20,577 officers and 12,290 other ranks were recruited from the OTCs between August
1914 and March 1915. The Munich Crisis saw a huge increase in recruitment to military units generally and OTCs in particular as large numbers of people volunteered for military service in the prelude to the Second World War. At the start of the Second World War the UOTCs became Senior Training Units and their membership automatically joined the Home Guard and in 1948 they became University Training Units.
From 1910 to 1922, Dublin University Officers' Training Corps recruited students at Trinity College Dublin, reinforcing the university's reputation at the time as a stronghold of Irish unionism and opposition to Home Rule. During the 1916 Easter Rising, Trinity College was targeted by the Volunteer and Citizen Army forces, but was successfully defended by a small number of unionist students, most of whom were UOTC officer cadets, as well as some staff. In the first meeting of the College Board following the Easter Rising, the Provost, J. P. Mahaffy, proposed a resolution expressing gratitude to those who had defended the university. In July that year, Dublin UOTC were offered, as a further gesture of thanks, the gift of a silver cup by the Ulster Unionist MP for Dublin University, Sir Edward Carson; the cup was ultimately gifted to the university itself in trust for its UOTC. Eventually, Dublin UOTC was disbanded following the partition of Ireland.
In 1948, the senior OTC 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. The units became University Officers' Training Corps again in 1955.
There are now fourteen UOTCs and three Officer Training Regiments throughout the United Kingdom, each of which serves the universities and Army Reserve units 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, its own stable belt, and its own customs and traditions. UOTC members hold the rank of Officer cadet, and are members of the Army Reserve, paid when on duty. They are not classed as trained ranks, and do not hold a Commission therefore they cannot be mobilised for active service and are classed as Group B reservists during their time in the UOTC. Being classed as untrained strength meaning remuneration does not attract X Factor and is not pensionable. Officer cadets can gain appointments as a Junior Under Officer, a Company Under Officer, or a Senior Under Officer and can also apply to the Army Officer Selection Board, which, if they pass, leads to the opportunity to complete the Army Reserve Commissioning Course with the goal of commissioning as a second lieutenant.

Selection and training

Each UOTC Unit have a similar processes of joining, that begins with the candidate finding the UOTC that recruits from their university and getting in contact with them through their page on the Army website or at their university's freshers fair and apply. UOTCs also conduct interviews and selection events to narrow down the list of candidates who applied. Candidates also need to undertake a British Army Medical Assessment and have the basic standard of fitness expected by the British Army.
The overview of the training officer cadets receive is:

Year one: Basic training (MOD Alpha)

Officer Cadets undertake the Reserve Officer Training Module Alpha. This involves instruction in all basic military techniques, including drill, map reading, camouflage, first aid, weapons training, small unit tactics, radio procedure, and fieldcraft.

Year two: Leadership training (MOD Bravo)

Having learnt how to be a member of an effective military team, the second year teaches the Reserve Officer Training Module Bravo. Officer Cadets learn how to manage soldiers, equipment, and the battlefield. This involves everything from planning an attack, to giving effective orders and ensuring they are carried out and from directing a constructive debrief after an exercise to ensuring the welfare of all of those under command.

Year three: Leadership in action

This year Senior Officer Cadets may hold appointments in their UOTC Unit such as Junior Under Officer and Senior Under Officer, and will mentor the less experienced Officer Cadets completing MOD A and MOD B. Some Officer cadets choose to go forward to the Army Officer Selection Board, to seek a commission from Sandhurst in either the Regular Army or Army Reserve. For those who choose the Reserve route, they can complete their reserve commission after successful completion of the AOSB by undertaking the remaining training required, which can only be completed on short courses at Sandhurst. For those who seek a Regular commission, they must undertake the full regular commissioning course which takes 42 weeks at Sandhurst.
There is no obligation for Officer Cadets of the UOTC, to go to AOSB and finish the Reserve officer, Commissioning Course, or undertake the Regular Commissioning Course. and some choose to not continue training with the Armed Forces after University.

Additional courses and opportunities

Officer Cadets in the UOTC are able to take part in a wide range of opportunities within the UOTC and with the wider Army Reserve, examples of such include taking part in Exercise Cambrian Patrol, The maroon student course which allows Officer Cadets to progress to attempt P Company to earn a maroon beret, as well as undertaking the Army Reserve PTI course to qualify them as an Army Reserve PTI.

Adventurous training and social aspects

Similarly to Units in the wider Army Reserve, UOTCs are able to take part in the British Army's Adventurous Training, which includes courses on a wide range of activities such as Skiing, Rock-climbing, Mountain Biking and Hiking
UOTCs also have social elements such as Regimental Dinners and other formal events to more informal events.

Inter-UOTC competitions

The British Army runs several competitions throughout the academic year where the OTCs and the four Defence Technical Undergraduate Scheme squadrons have a chance to compete against each other. One of these is the King's Challenge Cup, a sports competition.

Command and control

The overall commander of the UOTC is the Deputy Commandant RMAS an appointment held by a Colonel.

UOTC units

	Recruits From	External Website
Aberdeen and Tayforth Officers' Training Regiment	University of Aberdeen, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen College, St. Andrews University, Dundee University, Abertay University, Stirling University
Birmingham UOTC	University of Birmingham, Birmingham City University, University College Birmingham, Warwick, Aston, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Worcester, Keele, Staffordshire University and Harper Adams
Cambridge UOTC	Cambridge University, University of East Anglia, Anglia Ruskin University, University of Hertfordshire and University of Essex
East Midlands UOTC	Nottingham University, Nottingham Trent University, Northampton University, Leicester University, Derby University, De Montfort University, Loughborough University, University of Lincoln
Edinburgh UOTC	University of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh Napier University, Queen Margaret University and the Scottish Agricultural College
Glasgow and Strathclyde UOTC	University of Glasgow, Strathclyde University, Glasgow Caledonian University, University of the West of Scotland, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow School of Art
London UOTC	University of the Arts, Birkbeck University of London, Brunel University, University of Bedfordshire, Canterbury Christ Church University, City University of London, University of East London, Goldsmiths University of London, University of Greenwich, University of Hertfordshire, Imperial College London, University of Kent, King's College London, Kingston University, London Business School, London Metropolitan University, London School of Economics, Northeastern University London, Middlesex University, Queen Mary University of London, Regent's University London, University of Roehampton, Royal Holloway University of London, Royal Veterinary College, School of Oriental & Asian Studies, London South Bank University, St George's University of London, St Mary's University, University of Surrey, University of Westminster, University of West London, University College London
Northumbrian UOTC	Universities of Newcastle, Northumbria, Durham, Teesside and Sunderland
North West Officers' Training Regiment	University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Salford, University of Bolton, University of Liverpool, Lancaster University, Liverpool John Moores University, Hope College, University of Central Lancashire, Edge Hill University, St. Martins College, Chester College
Oxford UOTC	Buckinghamshire New University, Oxford University, Oxford Brookes University, Reading University, Royal Agricultural University. University of Buckingham, University of Gloucestershire
Queen's UOTC	Queen's University Belfast and the University of Ulster
Southampton UOTC	University of Winchester, Solent University, Bournemouth University, Southampton University, Portsmouth University, University of Brighton, University of Sussex
South West Officers' Training Regiment	University of Bristol, University of Bath, University of the West of England, Bath Spa University, University of Exeter, University of Plymouth, Plymouth Marjon University, Falmouth University
Wales UOTC	Cardiff University, University of South Wales, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Aberystwyth, Bangor, Swansea, University of Glamorgan, Wrexham, Chester, Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama
Yorkshire Officers' Training Regiment	University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University, Leeds Universities, Bradford University, Huddersfield University, University of York, York St John University and Hull University