| Strategic benefit to DOD graduate education institution | Potential trade-off compared to civilian institution |
1 | Tradition and culture building | May make DOD too inward looking |
2 | Creates the teamwork/networking that will help with future operations | Isolation from nonmilitary cultures and networks to international students; Might not be exposed to best practices from industry and academia |
3 | More predictable content and schedules | Civilian institutions are less predictable, but they may offer greater course diversity |
4 | Combines education with training | Lose education goals in favor of training outcomes |
5 | Education includes relevant research to foster lifelong learning skills | Innovation can be constrained by hierarchy within the students and the faculty |
6 | Coursework more adaptable to changing DOD priorities | Some coursework is difficult to link to fundamental studies and application to DOD needs |
7 | Strong peer mentorship network and structured experience | Student mentoring and structured programs are subject to wide variations, creating uncertainly in quality and consistent of experience |
8 | Easier to do classified/sensitive work | Classified/restricted research capacity and sharing is extremely limited |
9 | Few intellectual property issues | Understanding of intellectual property challenges as key to doing business with DOD |
10 | Tacking any problem-even if socially unpopular or unacceptable | Lesser problem sets, more focused on nonmilitary areas, solutions might not capture all stakeholder and requirements |
11 | Leverage of unique facilities and subject matter experts-AFIT with AFRL, centers, and local program offices-NPS with laboratories and centers | Many universities do not have adjacent DOD research centers focused on military science and technology |
12 | Business processes mirror sponsors | Less hiring flexibility |