The U.S. Space Force (USSF) needs to determine advanced academic degree (AAD) requirements that are tailored to its unique mission, priorities, and emphasis on technological solutions. 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.

Advanced Academic Education in the U.S. Space Force

Strategies for Developing a Technical Workforce

Lisa M. Harrington, Lawrence M. Hanser, Chaitra M. Hardison, Tara L. Terry, Jonah Kushner, Lewis Schneider, Anthony Lawrence, Monica Rico

ResearchPublished Jul 11, 2024

Cover: Advanced Academic Education in the U.S. Space Force
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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.

Key Takeaways

  • Per USSF stakeholders, the most important reasons for AADs are to develop critical-thinking and reasoning skills, meet the technical competency requirements of positions, foster innovation, and provide insight into bleeding-edge science.
  • Many universities do not use a competency framework to describe the outcomes of their programs. If the competency-based framework is used to identify AADs, competencies need to be clearly defined in a way that facilitates identifying the best AADs to meet position requirements.
  • Gaps in the current educational attainment of the USSF workforce suggest the need to better meet competencies required for a guardian's functional alignment; increase AADs in nonengineering science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields; provide greater access to Ph.D. programs; and enroll individuals in degree programs at institutions with higher research activities.
  • The point in a career when AADs are earned is not well aligned with position requirements for AADs.
  • Reductions in the number of new starts in degree programs affect functional areas at different rates.
  • Such pathways as skills-based hiring, upskilling, and microcredentials may offer viable alternatives to AADs.

Recommendations

  • Continue to highlight and refine the overarching purposes for guardians to obtain AADs.
  • Establish linkages between job competency requirements and the AADs believed to develop them.
  • Employ a systematic approach for filling the gaps in information to justify AAD requirements.
  • Systematically gather information from Department of the Air Force–funded AAD graduates on competencies obtained in AAD programs.
  • Track the demographics of advanced degree holders to detect when objectives are not being met and inform needed adjustments.
  • For guardians intending to earn a self-funded advanced degree, USSF should test an incentive program to encourage attendance at higher-quality institutions and in fields of study that complement needed functional expertise.
  • Establish criteria for sending enlisted members to obtain AADs.
  • Consider future requirements for AADs during recruiting and hiring.
  • Develop and implement a modeling methodology to estimate the needed number of annual new starts and to assess the advisability of policy changes to manage guardians with degrees.
  • Begin to explore potential policy changes to best manage guardians with AADs.
  • Closely monitor partner degree programs to ensure that they are supporting AAD requirements.
  • In combination with AADs, USSF should consider alternate pathways to meet its workforce skill demands.

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Harrington, Lisa M., Lawrence M. Hanser, Chaitra M. Hardison, Tara L. Terry, Jonah Kushner, Lewis Schneider, Anthony Lawrence, and Monica Rico, Advanced Academic Education in the U.S. Space Force: Strategies for Developing a Technical Workforce. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2024. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1750-1.html.
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This research was prepared for the Department of the Air Force (DAF) and conducted within the Workforce, Development, and Health Program of RAND Project AIR FORCE.

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