Advanced Academic Education in the U.S. Space Force

📖 The Scoop

The military services send members to earn advanced academic degrees (AADs)--a master's degree or Ph.D.--to develop the skills needed to meet position requirements. The U.S. Space Force (USSF) needs to determine AAD requirements that are tailored to its unique mission, priorities, and emphasis on technological solutions. Because USSF anticipates a need for a workforce with highly technical skills, identifying the right mix of AADs needed is especially critical. The research in this report was conducted to help USSF think strategically about how to devise its own approach and process for establishing AAD requirements. The research involved conducting discussions with USSF stakeholders to understand why guardians need AADs; identifying a systematic approach to using competencies to ascertain AAD requirements; using data from the Military Personnel Data System and the Manpower Programming and Execution System to determine educational attainment of current guardians; using a RAND-developed model to assess personnel flows for new degree requirements and utilization of degrees; and conducting a literature review of industry experiences and an analysis of industry and government job announcements to examine the pathways in which U.S. employers meet their needs for skilled workforces.

Genre: Business & Economics / Human Resources & Personnel Management (fancy, right?)