4 December 2002
Mm«>RANDUMOF AG~..'E;~
FORMING AN EDUCATIONAL ALLIANCE
BBTWKBN
THB DEPARTMENT OP THB NAVY
~
THE DEPARTMENT OF AIR FORCE
!ntroductio~
On March 7, 2002 SBCNAVand SBCAFchartered a .tudy to
review graduate educational
proce..e..
As a result
of that
study,
the Department8 of Navy and Air Force hereby form an
All iance to ensure that the Naval Po8tgraduate
School (NPS) and
the Air Force Institute
of Technology
(APIT) meet the advanced
education
requirement.
of the Armed Force. of the United State..
Goals:
This Alliance
will eD8Ure that NPS and APIT are widely
recognized,
~world-class~
institutions,
focused to meet the
advanced ~-Z-e6 progra.
require.-nt8
of the Department of
Defen..,
owned and operated
by the Depart_nt
of the Navy and
Department of the Air Porce, re.pectively.
NPS and AFIT will
continue to reflect
the heritage and character of their
respective
Service.,
meeting Joint and .ervice-unique
needs,
minimdzing redundancy, maintaining
quality
and realizing
efficiencie.
and ecoDO8de. of scale.
The Alliance
will 1 leverage the complementari ties of NPS and
NPS haa strengths in space operations and
AFIT. For instance,
N
The Alliance will leverage
APIT bas strengths
inn space science.
and strengthen
8uch CI
comparative advantages.
It
will:
. ensure officers
.
.
continue to receive high-quality,
relevant and responsive grad~te education aligned to
defense needs
prevent unnece.8ary duplication,
while 8U8taining
excellence at NPS and AFIT,
ensure efficient
operation of both institutionB,
while
maintaining each as a -world-classN
higher education
.
Over8ight
institution
UDderpinned
and character
by it.
in combination,
a Joint
provide
unique
Service
heritage
educational
environment
in which officer.
from all of the Services
will
engage in education
and reaearch programs
of the Alliance.
The Alliance
will
be overseen by the lIPS Board of Advi80ra
(BOA) and the Air University's
(AU) Board of Visitors
(BoV).
To
implement the Joint Navy-Air Force OVer8igbt of the Alliance,
the BOA and BoV will
interact
with each other.
The NPS BOA will
invite
one or more member. of the BoV to
each of its ~etiDg..
The AU BoV will invite
one or I1K)re
member. of the BOA to ...tings
at which APIT or graduate
education
i.
to be disCU8sed.
The Chairs of the ~
and BoV will
the BOA and BoV whenever such a ~eting
Alliance.
bold a Joint
will i~rove
meeting of
the
Over time, and if appropriate,
over8ight
of the Navy-Air
Force Educational
Alliance
may traneitiOD to a single Board of
Vi8itor8,
which will
serve a8 the governing
Board for both NPS
and AFIT.
Initial
As
Actiona.
. beginning,
provided
and to improve the quality
by the Alliance,
the following
action.
of the education
are announced.
The Navy will:
.
terminate
Aeronautical
Engineering curricula
at NPS
(curricula
610, 611 and 612); within
the Alliance,
only APIT will
otfer
an Aeronautical
Engineering
curriculum
The Air
Force will:
terminate
(curriculum
ofter
the Meteorology
curriculum
at AFIT
GM); within
the Alliance,
only
a Meteo~logy
curriculum
2
NPS will
.
terminate
Aoqui8ition
curricula
QAQ); within
the Alliance,
only
ACqui8ition
~th
Both services
..rvicea
.
at APIT
NPS will
(curricula
offer
an
curriculum
will:
will:
establi8h
Joint Oversight
Boarda for the Aeronautical
Engineering,
Meteorology,
Acquisition,
and Space
curricula.
The Chair of the Aeronautical
Engineering
Board will be a Navy Flag Officer.
The Chair of the
Board8 for Meteorology
and Acqui8ition
will
be an Air
Force General Officer.
The Chair of the Space Board
will
be a Flag/General
Officer
of the National
Reconnais~ce
Office
(NRO), Air force,
Army, Navy or
U.S. Space Co.mand.
The Under Secretary
of the Air
Force/Director,
NRO i8 the initial
de8ignee to Chair
the $pace progra..
Joint OV8r8ight
Board.
Bach of
these oversight
bodiea will
make periodic
reports
to
the BOA and the BoV. The Superintendent
of NPS and
the C~Ddant
of APIT will
e.tabliah
the Board8 and
en8ure that the Boarda have repre8entative
membership
and bold periodic
meetings.
.
the DepartD8nt of the Navy .ball
designate
the Deputy
Superintendent/Chief
of Staff po8ition
at NPS to be
filled
by an Air Force Colonel,
who will
serve a8 the
senior Air Force liaison
officer
at NPS. The Air
Force .hall
designate
the Vice commandant/Director
of
Staff position
at APIT to be filled
by a Navy Captain,
who will
.erve a. the senior "VY liaison
officer
at
APIT.
Bach service
agrees to keep the..
billets
filled
.
the
by an 0-6
Depart-.nt
of
Line
the
Officer.
Navy
Air
and the
Depart~nt
of
the
Force should, after
seats are filled
at either
NPS
or APIT in a particular
field
of study,
give priority
to sending their
student.
to the other institution
(NPS or APIT), before sending th08e student.
to
civilian
universities.
To i8plement
thi.
policy,
NPS
and APIT will,
in coordination
with the ataff.
of the
other services,
to include
the Marine Corpe, Arm¥ and
the Coast Guard, form a joint
admi8sion.
and quota
control
proce...
proce88.
-3
Follow-on
Actions.
In order
to further
fo8ter
the ~liance,
the Navy and the
Air Force will:
.
review current NPS/APIT policies
with the objective
of
establi8hing
commonpolici..,
which repre8ent the best
practices
at both in8titutions
.
enaure theIeI
Manage_nt It
alliance
A88i.tant
Secretarie.
tor
Assistant
Secretarie.
for Financial
Pi~
program
the
resource.
needed
to
launch
the
program
resources
,
review
the resource
issue.
of the
re8ource
il
jannually
and
take
all
actions
nece..ary
to
ensure
thl
j
all
actions
neces.ary
has
has
the resource.
resources
..
required
for Isucce..
hA
NPS/APIT
identify
research
will
develop.
MetmrandUJa of
will
additional
are..
that
.upport
collaboration
alliance,
alliance,
.
.
A
CB
.
Under.tanding
education
-
tl
and