At the commencement of the instruction the teachers inspect the whole of the Ensign-Examination papers of the newly-arrived students, which are laid before them by the Director, in order the better to judge of their acquirements. During the first quarter they take pains to ascertain the ability as well as the amount of acquirements of each student, so as to be able to give a confident opinion upon him at the end of the quarter.
After the close of the first quarter a conference of the teachers, under the presidence of the Director, takes place, to form a report upon the students, and to furnish data for recommendations to the rank of ensign of such students as have given satisfaction by their conduct and progress. The students about whom the teachers have not yet been able to speak confidently, who, in certain studies, as in mathematics and the special branches of their arm, are behind-hand, as well as those whose conduct has not been without blame, are proposed to the higher authorities for permission to continue to remain at the school. On the other hand, the Board of Studies proposes for dismissal from the institution, students whose conduct has been unsatisfactory, and principally who give too little hope of a favorable career. The Board is to express an opinion whether any prospect may be held out of a future recall to the institution, according as its unfavorable report has been founded on the want of ability or on the want of industry of the student.
The students favorably reported on are immediately, by the General Inspectors, appointed ensigns, subject to vacancies. The Curatorium decides regarding the further stay at the institution, or the dismissal of the others.
After the end of the second quarter, those pupils who can not yet be recommended for promotion to ensign are only in special cases allowed to remain till the end of the theoretical instruction of this year; if they can not then be recommended, they are sent back to their regiments.
Fourteen days before the close of the theoretical instruction for the year, that is to say, about the middle of June, the teachers give an opinion regarding each student of the first cœtus, as to whether or not they consider him capable of undergoing the Officers’ Examination, and to pass into the second cœtus. These reports, joined to that of the Director, as regards the conduct of the students, enable the Board of Studies to propose to the higher authorities either that permission may be granted to undergo the Officers’ Examination, (and, if successful, to enter the second cœtus,) or that the student be sent back to his corps. Students who have been refused permission on grounds not altogether unpardonable, from presenting themselves for the Officers’ Examination, or who in the course of instruction have been sent for any reason to their corps, with the prospect of being afterwards called back to the school, may, on the proposition of the Board of Studies, through the Curatorium, be granted a second and final entrance into the first cœtus.
The Curatorium decides in every case whether a student who has not qualified himself for entry into the second cœtus, may return to the first cœtus after having left the institution, or in case he shall have in the meantime passed the Officers’ Examination, whether he may, as an exceptional case, enter the second cœtus. In a case of the latter kind, the applicant can not present himself for the Officers’ Examination without having previously passed a preliminary examination at the school, to do which, the permission of the General Inspector of his corps is necessary.
The theoretical course closes at the end of June. During the month of July the students of the first cœtus are employed in surveying operations. It is during this month that the examination for the rank of officer before the General Examining Board takes place. The students who pass this examination enter afterwards into the second cœtus; those who fail are, at the expiration of the practical course of their year, sent back to their corps.
The students who pass the Officers’ Examination, and are found qualified to enter the second cœtus, are then proposed for election to the officers of their corps. If the decision be favorable, their names are submitted by the General Inspectors to the King, to be appointed, on vacancies occurring, to the rank of Supernumerary (Ausseretatsmässigen) Second Lieutenant.
To assist the Officers of the Corps in making their election, an extract of the reports above alluded to is sent to them, so far as it concerns the students who have successfully passed their Officers’ Examination.
It is an indispensable condition for entering the second cœtus, that, if a student of the first cœtus, he should have passed the Officers’ Examination, or if he should now enter the school for the first time, that he should have the rank of Officer. The sum of acquirements necessary for the Officers’ Examination forms the basis of the instruction given in the second cœtus. In it the instruction ceases to be entirely common to the two arms.