The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town of Sandhurst, Berkshire, though its ceremonial entrance is in Camberley, Surrey, southwest of London. All British Army officers (including late-entry officers who were previously senior non-commissioned officers (SNCO's) or Warrant Officers) are trained at the academy, alongside other men and women from overseas.

The academy formerly commanded the University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), which along with the General Staff Centre (GSC) and the Centre for Army Leadership (CAL) were collectively part of the formation known as Sandhurst Group (RMAS Group), part of Home Command. They now, like the academy, fall under the command of the Army Individual Training Command.

Sandhurst is the British Army equivalent of the Britannia Royal Naval College and of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell.

Location Despite its name, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst's address is located in Camberley; the boundaries of the academy straddle the counties of Berkshire and Surrey. The county border is marked by a small stream known as the Wish Stream, after which the academy journal is named.

The "Main Gate" is located on the east of the Academy on the London Road in Camberley. The "College Town Gate", which is used for regular access, is located on the west of the Academy on Yorktown Road in Sandhurst.

History

The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst was formed on the site of the former Royal Military College (founded in 1801 for the training of officers for arms other than the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers) in 1947 when it amalgamated with the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich (founded in 1741 for the training of officers for the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers).

Following the ending of National Service in the UK and the closing of the Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot in 1972, the RMAS became the sole establishment for male initial officer training in the British Army, taking over the responsibilities of Mons for training Short Service Officer Cadets, Territorial Army officers, and those joining the Regular Army as graduates. The Churchill Society For nearly half-a-century the welfare of overseas cadets was handled by Sandhurst volunteer Margaret Jones.

In 1984, the Women's Officer Training College Bagshot was also merged into Sandhurst. In 1992, a new Commissioning Course finally unified the training of male, female, and overseas cadets.

The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Collection illustrates the history of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. The collection includes the Gentlemen Cadet registers, historic archives, uniforms, paintings, photographs, and other artefacts.

For the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, the newly created Academy hosted the running leg of the modern pentathlon competition.1948 Summer Olympics official report. p. 47.

In 2012, Sandhurst accepted a £15 million donation from the government of United Arab Emirates for the Zayed Building, an accommodation block, named after the UAE's founding ruler. In 2013, Sandhurst accepted a donation of £3 million from the Government of Bahrain for the refurbishment of Mons Hall, named in honour of the men who fell in the Battle of Mons. It was renamed as King Hamad Hall in honour of the King of Bahrain, which generated some controversy in the United Kingdom.

In 2015, Colonel Lucy Giles was appointed as the first female college commander of Sandhurst.

In 2019, Sandhurst gained widespread media attention in Britain after cadet Olivia Perks took her own life after an alleged affair with a superior at Sandhurst and amid fears she was going to be dismissed. In May 2023, an inquest into her death found that the army missed chances to prevent Perks's suicide in failing to recognise signs of stress.

Selection Potential officers, for regular, reserve, or professional qualified service, are identified by the Army Officer Selection Board (formerly the Regular Commissions Board, or RCB) situated in Westbury in Wiltshire. Assessment for regular or reserve direct entry service is undertaken at the same time, in the same groups, to the same standard. Nearly 10 per cent of British cadets are female and nearly 10 per cent of all cadets come from overseas. More than eighty percent of entrants are university graduates, although a degree is not required for admission.RMAS: The Officer Cadet .

Instructors The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst instructors' cadre (group of trainers) is run once every year. The aim is to select 30 senior non-commissioned officers (SNCOs) from 60 over the course of 3–4 weeks. Instructors can come from any part of the British Army although most are historically from the Infantry. Typically before the 60 candidates arrive on the cadre, they would have had to have passed a 'Divisional pre-selection' course, meaning it would not be unusual for over double the 60 places to be contested. Sergeants, Staff/Colour Sergeants (Colour Sergeants from Infantry units) attend the Instructors Cadre. The Instructors Cadre is known to be demanding, both physically and mentally, compressing all the prominent physical tests and mental assessments that each Officer Cadet undertakes over the year course, into 3/4 weeks. No other instructor posting has a selection to pass in order to be a part of a training team.

Courses

There are three commissioning courses run at the academy. All are accredited by various academic and professional institutions, in particular the Chartered Management Institute. The Regular Commissioning Course, and increasingly the Short Course, are attended by international officer cadets from other nations' land forces. The three courses are:

1. The Regular Commissioning Course, which lasts 44 weeks, for Direct Entry officers into the Regular service.Commissioning Course Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

2. The Short Commissioning Course, which is for Army Reserve officers and both regular and reserve service professionally qualified officers (e.g., doctors, dentists, nurses, lawyers, pharmacists, veterinary surgeons and chaplains),PQO Course at army.mod.uk, accessed 13 October 2018 which lasts eight weeks. The short course consists of four training modules; the first two, Modules A and B, can be completed under the supervision of RMAS with University Officers' Training Corps over a number of weekends, or at RMAS where each module lasts two weeks. The final two modules, modules C and D, of the Officers' training and assessment must be conducted at Sandhurst. This training can all be completed in an eight-week period at RMAS, or over a number of years. Upon completion, Officer Cadets become Second Lieutenants in the Army Reserve (including Officer Training Corps, OTC/UOTC), or Captains in PQO roles.

3. The Late Entry Officer Course (LEOC) for senior soldiers commissioning from the ranks.Late Entry Officer Course Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

The RMAS has an academic faculty staffed by civilian researchers with expertise in Communication and Applied Behavioural Science, Defence and International Affairs, and War Studies.

Unlike some other national military academies such as the United States Military Academy in the United States, l'École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr in France, the Royal Military College of Canada in Canada, the Pakistan Military Academy in Pakistan, the Nigerian Defence Academy in Nigeria or the Australian Defence Force Academy in Australia, Sandhurst is not a university. It only works with the Open University to award the Regular Commissioning Course 120 credit points towards a distance learning Honours Degree in International Studies which ultimately requires 360 points. Graduate entrants can gain a Postgraduate Certificate in Leadership and Conflict Studies from the Regular Commissioning Course and then embark on a pathway post-commissioning to complete a full master's degree from a university through further electives and a dissertation. Alternatively, non-graduate cadets have the opportunity to earn a BSc in Leadership and Strategic Studies through their military service, which is awarded by the University of Reading.

Sandhurst Group

Under the reforms outlined in the British Army's restructuring plan Future Soldier, the Sandhurst Group formation was reorganised, and is under the control of Standing Joint Command. The Commander RMAS Group holds the rank of Brigadier and is the overall commander of the Group and the operations of the Royal Military Academy.

The unit is Headquartered at RMA Sandhurst, and takes its name from the Academy. The insignia used for Sandhurst Group is the same used by the Royal Military Academy and the badge of the Academy features on the Formation Flash for Sandhurst Group.

Organisation

In overall command of the RMAS is the Commander - a post established in January 2025 as part of the Sandhurst Group re-organisation where RMAS became a brigadier post as opposed to a major-general post. Whilst there is still a Commandant above the Commander, their post is now a mainly ceremonial one. The Commandant's day-to-day job is now to be in charge of the new initial training command. The Commander RMAS is supported by a Deputy Commander (colonel). The senior warrant officer, the Academy Sergeant Major (AcSM), is one of the most senior warrant officers in the British Army. The regular commissioning course is split into three terms, each lasting fourteen weeks (referred to as the Junior, Intermediate and Senior Divisions, identified by differently coloured badges). Basic army training is covered in the first five weeks, which, by reputation, are the most gruelling (the families of the cadets are encouraged to support the cadets' morale by maintaining home contacts). The main RMAS Commissioning Courses start in January, May and September of each year. Each intake numbers approximately 200 cadets, each of whom is assigned to a platoon within one of two/three companies. Platoons are commanded by captains, with a colour sergeant who takes the main burden of day-to-day training, especially during the first term (unlike West Point, RMAS entrusts the majority of officer training to Senior Non-Commissioned Officers). There can be as many as seven companies within RMAS at any one time. There can be additional companies of Army Reserve or 'professionally qualified officers' in the Academy who take part in shorter (1–2 months) commissioning courses. Each company is commanded by a major and named after a famous battle or campaign in which the British Army fought.