Out of the graduated officers, 10 were from Estonia, eight from Latvia and 10 from Lithuania.
The main objective of the Baltic Defense College, or BALTDEFCOL for short, is to improve the training and development of senior staff officers of the armed forces of the three Baltic states through the teaching of a senior staff course.
A parallel course is planned for civil servants involved in national security and defense policy work.
The college, founded in August 1999, provides midcareer staff officers with NATO-standard education in fields such as operations and tactics, logistics, strategy and political studies, staff duties, management and administration, and military technology.
An officer who graduates from the college is extremely valuable to the Estonian army, said Reelika Semjonov, Estonia's Defense Ministry spokeswoman.
Semjonov said both NATO member countries and non-alliance states support the college financially.
"From next year the Baltic states will cover one-third of the total college expenses, and in 2003 they will fund two-thirds of the budget," Semjonov said.
Next year's BALTDEFCOL budget will be 450,000 euros ($388,000).
Six countries currently fund the college - Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Finland and Iceland.
Estonia's Defense Minister Juri Luik called on the audience at the graduation ceremony to end the Cold War mood and learn to use historic opportunities like Estonia did in 1991.
"As a member of a nation that restored its independence in 1991, taking advantage of the opportunity offered by the failed coup d'état in the Soviet Union, I'm telling those who still doubt that historic opportunities are not repeated. Eternal delays do not solve the problem," Luik said, speaking on NATO enlargement.
He also thanked NATO member countries that have supported the Baltic states' bid for membership.
Graduation of the second class took place just one day before Victory Day, June 23, when the Estonian national volunteer corps defeated Germans at the town of Cesis (in today's Latvia) in 1919 during the War for Independence.
Rear Admiral Tarmo Kouts, Estonia's defense forces commander, said in a Victory Day speech that the whole nation's will to defend the state is the key to Estonia's entry into NATO.
The commandant of the college, Brig. Gen. Michael H. Clemmesen, told The Baltic Times that the general educational level of the cadets when they enter the college is as good as can be expected "when you take into account the general undermining of open studies in humanities and social sciences that took place during the Soviet rule when the Baltic students grew up.
"The supplementary education the students receive before arriving has become better and better, thanks to the focused efforts of the three states," noted Clemmesen.
Clemmesen believes the cadets' main problem is the lack of thorough formal professional education, which would teach an officer to see and analyze different issues and formulate conclusions.
"There is a lack of practical service experience with the command of units in demanding exercises and with responsible administration," said Clemmesen.
He also said that, to a very significant degree, the students are compensating for their weak educational background with high morale, the eagerness to learn and dedication to their countries.
"The effort of the non-Baltic students, who have a more normal educational and career background, also does a lot to compensate, as they act as resource persons," Clemmesen said.
He said he did not expect any major changes among cadets in the next couple of years, as change depends on the further development of the Baltic states' defense forces and education institutions.
"As BALTDEFCOL gets mid-career officers, we have to wait a little to see any dramatic change," said Clemmesen.
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