ACSC RoS

[Startrek3]

Fellow PPRUNER's

Does anybody know of any instances whereby a(n) RAF ACSC graduate was able to pull the handle prior to meeting the RoS requirement and if so what if any implications arose as a result? I did hear of one individual who engaged a civilian company as part of her research paper and was subsequently offered a job by them (which I believe she took). It would be useful to know if a precedence has been set whilst recognising the 'staff' answer that all cases are treated on an individual basis.

[Lima Juliet]

Check out QRs - they can hold you to a maximum of 18 months on PVR if I recall correctly. However, you will have waived or deferred any options like your 22 point by accepting ACSC so PVR or nothing is the likely answer.

Good luck :ok:

[general all rounder]

The individual to whom you refer was not allowed to leave until the RoS was expired. She did then leave to take up employment with the Company concerned. She took legal advice as to whether the RoS could be enforced and was told that as it was in return for a defined benefit (ie the cost of attending the course) she was at significant risk of losing any case.

If you don't want to do the RoS, don't do the Course - there will be others sitting below the cut off who are desperate to do it and stay in the Service.

[Whenurhappy]

I have attended a foreign staff college as well as taking a years' fellowship at a well-known university. A colleague completed his year with me, and left a year later, in spite of a 3 year ROS. When I made discreet enquiries, it was clear that any decision to allow me to leave (on PVR terms) was driven by the overall manning picture at the time.

[SaddamsLoveChild]

I recall a fine officer who completed an overseas staff college course and who left within the RoS but it was to work for the Royal Household and it went to 4* level. To be honest if you get selected and go, you should do the RoS - you knew the terms when you committed or pay fro wasting the services time. ICSC now that is waste of time and effort.

[Melchett01]

ICSC now that is waste of time and effort

But is ACSC any better? From the briefings we had on ICSC, it appeared that ACSC was mostly military theory and you got the MA by doing a couple of extra academic modules. With most postgrad Masters being something like 180 credits, those couple of modules certainly wouldn't cover that amount of credits, so it seems like you get an MA for largely accreditation of prior work experience.

Given its specialist nature, is ACSC seen as a valuable tick in the box outside of the military and broader defence industry? Or would individuals possibly considering leaving the military but wanting to update their portfolio be better advised looking at alternative qualifications?

[Archimedes]

M01 - the ACSC isn't just military theory - you get some of that, but alongside International Relations, Regional Studies, Operational and Strategic Studies, etc, etc. Sadly, you're now spared the entertainment of seeing the Army thrashing themselves during their single service element as they attempted to cram the 44 week Camberley Course into 14...

To simplify, the ACSC work for the first two terms is an intergral part of an MA programme - the ACSC syllabus is the MA syllabus.

There is one additional module - an optional (as far as demand permits) subject delivered by the academics without a DS in the seminars, with a sightly different format to the standard ACSC SRDs. The last 60 Credits come in the form of the Dissertation (the Defence Research Paper), where the MA candidates have to write a piece that's 5,000 words longer than those not registered on the MA. There's also a three hour exam that's not part of ACSC.

Taken as a whole, that means MA candidates do the full study time required for a Master's level degree (it in fact works out as doing more, in a couple of months' less time than an MA that'd be done at a university campus). There is no accreditation of prior experience ('experiental learning' to employ the jargon) towards the award of the degree.

Apologies for mild thread diversion.

[Melchett01]

Archimedes - many thanks. A better and more succinct brief on the nature of ACSC than they managed to impart in an hour on ICSC.