Defence Technical Undergraduate Scheme

The Defence Technical Undergraduate Scheme (DTUS) is a university sponsorship programme for students who want to join the Royal Navy, British Army, Royal Air Force or Engineering and Science branch of the MOD Civil Service as technical officers after they graduate; Army sponsored students are destined for either the Royal Corps of Signals, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Royal Engineers or The Royal Logistic Corps. Students on the scheme are sponsored by the MOD to study accredited technical degree programmes.

The DTUS was created following the 2001 Defence Training Review (DTR). The DTR identified that the Royal Navy, British Army, Royal Air Force and MOD Civil Service had difficulties in recruiting engineering officers. As a result, DTUS was created whereby sponsored students study at seven partner universities (Aston, Birmingham, Loughborough, Newcastle, Northumbria, Southampton and Portsmouth). Additionally, those individuals with high A-level grades get the opportunity to study at Oxford or Cambridge universities. DTUS is expected to reach and maintain a strength of eight hundred students in September 2016.

The aim of DTUS is ‘to educate and develop selected individuals in order to prepare them for further training and careers as engineer or technical officers in the Armed Forces or as graduate entrants to the MOD Civil Service’.

DTUS students are able to choose the partner university they wish to study at and select a degree course that has been approved by their sponsoring service. Whilst at their partner university, all students belong to a support unit who are responsible for their leadership development, mentorship and administration. They also closely monitor academic progress, to that end the commanding officer of each support unit has visiting lecturer status at their university to support this. There are four support units throughout the UK:

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