To this end, in December 1769, it was issued a new ordinance, which ordered the merging of the Royal Academy of Artillery with that of the Corps of Engineers in the Royal Military Academy. The new institute (also based in the Palace of Panatica) opened its doors on 1 February 1770, after an inauguration ceremony marked by a speech by Captain Alonzo Nini. The organization of the institute, which had an initial budget of two thousand ducats a year, was similar to that of a university, as students went there only for classes and exams. Courses lasted four years, and attendance was mandatory for officers of artillery and engineering based in Naples. The battalions of infantry, cavalry and dragoons stationed in Naples had also to send two officers and two cadets each, while the regiments allocated elsewhere sent two cadets each. The general of brigade Luca Ricci was appointed commander, while the direction of the studies was entrusted to the famous experimental physicist and mathematician Vito Caravelli. The students sustained two exams a year and one at the end of the four-year course, at the presence of the Minister of War. The top four performers were promoted to the immediately higher rank in the units to which they belonged, the second four received a gold medal, the other ones a silver one. Although the scheme of studies was thick from the point of view of science, it was completely lacking in the humanities, and such deficiency began to be acutely felt in the educational environment, and would lead to the subsequent evolution of the Royal Military Academy.