REPORT ON AIR FORCE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (AFIT):
STUDY FOR SENATE AND HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEES

CHAPTER THREE

Plan for Near-Term Increase in the Production by the Institute of Master’s and Doctoral Degree Graduates

Over the last year the USAF has worked to increase the number of AFIT resident students for the academic school year beginning in August 2001. In July 2000, then SECAF, Honorable F. Whitten Peters, sent a letter to members of the Ohio Congressional delegation, Senators Dewine and Voinovich and Congressmen Hall and Hobson, stating the AF’s commitment to working a short-term initiative to boost enrollment at AFIT. The SECAF and CSAF, General Michael Ryan, subsequently approved sending direct accessions to AFIT for critical scientific and engineering requirements. Direct accessions are those AF officers newly commissioned through Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC), the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), and Officer Training School (OTS). The SECAF did this as part of a broader effort to address the current AF science and engineering shortfall and to make better use of AFIT assets.

As a result of the commitment to fill available AFIT seats, additional quotas were allotted to AFIT for direct accessions during the February 2001 AF graduate education quota reallocation process. The AFIT Registrar identified 29 direct accessions for in-resident attendance of the graduate school in the critical engineering and scientific programs.

The Air Force Personnel Center (AFPC) centrally manages new officer accessions and their assignments are coordinated with individual Career Field Functional managers to meet Force Planning Objectives. The Developmental Engineering (AF Specialty Code 62E) Officer Assignments section at AFPC filled initial Air Staff-approved AFIT slots as top priority. However, these additional quotas given to AFIT for direct accessions exacerbate the engineering manning problem in the field since these individuals will no longer be available for operational assignments while completing their degree requirements. With this shortfall in company grade officers, the number of direct accessions sent to AFIT had to be limited. The original direct accessions goal was 50 officers. The final number of 29 was a necessary compromise between the mission needs in the field and the need to fill AFIT seats.

AFIT is filling its logistics and acquisitions seats. Since 1995, AFIT’s logistics and acquisition capacity has been exceeded by an average of 10-40 percent. It is in the hard-core sciences that the seats have been difficult to fill. For example, the aeronautical and electrical engineering seat fill-rate has been less than 50 percent (25 of 52 seats filled); the physics seat fill-rate has been 30 percent (4 of 14 seats filled). The USAF is focusing its efforts in these difficult-to-fill specialties to increase AFIT’s enrollment up to capacity (230 masters and 35 doctorates). The minimum efficient load has been identified as 165 masters and 22 doctorate degrees.

To fill the "hard-to-fill" degree areas, AFIT has opened their doors to all military world wide and those federal civilians stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. These students attend on a part-time basis. This has resulted in an additional ten aeronautical engineers and seven electrical engineers, as well as increases in the computer sciences, materials sciences, space engineering, and space operations programs. Over the past year, a total of 40 employees took advantage of this program. Most of the employees are from the research labs at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, attending AFIT as their work schedule allows. Seat fill-rates are improving – from under 50 percent to over 80 percent for FY 01. This is due to the direct accessions, Wright- Patterson part-time programs, and close oversight ensuring students attended AFIT in residence when training was available at AFIT. In addition, AFIT has been added to the list of schools that civilians can choose from under the Civilian Competitive Development Program to encourage full time participation by civilians.

To ensure that AFIT faculty is productively employed and the institute remains viable, AFIT has identified and recruited international officers. The total number of international officers in this year’s 2001 graduating class and the 2002 class is 63.

In the past year, the number of in-residence students has risen 50 percent from 143 to 210 master’s candidates. This represents the first AFIT in-resident enrollment increase since 1995 when scientists and engineers were not in such short supply. Other recruitment efforts, including advertising campaigns highlighting AFIT research opportunities and the specific degree programs available, have been publicized throughout the AF, but with marginal success. A primary reason cited is a reluctance to accept the additional active duty service commitment in a full-employment economy and better salaries outside the Air Force. In the coming year, the AF will continue to optimize the student fill-rate while balancing known operational requirements.