Naval Postgraduate School Strategic Plan 2018-2023
Our Plan
This strategic plan positions the Naval Postgraduate School to provide world-class education and research programs to the United States Navy, Marine Corps and their partners, building on our unique capabilities and strengths in our contemporary strategic environment. Over the next five years, in cooperation with our curriculum and research sponsors, we will continue to provide the highest quality, defense-focused programs of education and research. Our plan organizes our actions around three main strategic themes.
Theme 1: Emerging Fields

The military operational environment is shaped by rapidly advancing technologies triggering avalanches of sudden and disruptive change. Technology is digitalizing everything and connecting everyone with everything. These changes set conditions for rapidly shifting political alliances, intractable insurgencies, and contests for every shared resource on the planet. We commit ourselves to stay ahead of these emerging changes with new facilities and programs.
Theme 2: Interdisciplinary Programs

The Naval Postgraduate School’s departments and schools reflect the main concentrations of disciplinary expertise we have assembled to support our mission. All the strategic challenges faced by the Navy and Marine Corps, as well as the rest of the Department of Defense, intersect with multiple academic disciplines. We commit ourselves to address defense challenges by expanding our collaborative work with industry and other government organizations. Our education and our research will benefit from this diversity of perspectives.
Theme 3: Institutional Effectiveness

NPS must function as a university with the highest academic standards, operating within the context of federal rules and laws. We commit ourselves to a constant search for improvement and cost-effectiveness in our business, education, and research processes. We will look internally for improvements as well as to industry and other government organizations for ideas and best practices that can improve our effectiveness.
Strategic Actions
The matrix below lists the ten action areas and shows which themes each area supports. Click on each action area below to read about what we are accomplishing in that area.
Domain | Action Areas | Theme 1: Emerging Fields | Theme 2: Interdisciplinary Programs | Theme 3: Institutional Effectiveness |
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Education Domain | Educational Improvement | ![]() |
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Operations Effectiveness | ![]() |
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Human Domain | Innovation | ![]() |
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Talent Management | ![]() |
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Ethics | ![]() |
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Global Strategy | ![]() |
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Science & Technology Domain | Emerging Technologies | ![]() |
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Data Science | ![]() |
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Environment | ![]() |
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Cyber Operations | ![]() |
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Progress Updates
- 2018-2023 Strategic Plan released (May 10, 2018)
Announcement of Strategic Plan at NPS. Read the plan (PDF).
Provide Feedback
We all have an interest in ensuring NPS endures as the postgraduate research and educational institution of choice for the Navy-Marine Corps team and our partners. But going even further, I want this institution to be the primary educational and research based enterprise that partners with the private sector and academia to provide solutions to the vexing problems facing national security across the whole of government.
We will do so by continuing attract the best students through elevated admission standards, by competing for and attracting and retaining a first rate faculty; by placing an emphasis on relevant research that builds capabilities; and by leveraging partnerships across government, industry, and educational institutions.
The Honorable Richard V. Spencer, Secretary of the Navy