We urgently need to drop the idea that putting a military task out to civilian contract is some kind of magic bullet to make it better/ cheaper, there are plenty of examples where it clearly hasn’t worked, MFTS being the prime example. The UASs used to be an excellent recruiting tool that produced student pilots who were far less likely to be chopped in later training which was why they weren’t scrapped under ‘Options for Change’ as they more than paid for themselves through less wastage. Unfortunately they were changed into EFTs which started the rot as measured against full time EFT they didn’t compare so favorably as the students were pulled in two directions by their university studies & flying training which led to the slide into today’s Air experience squadrons.
They were also the training ground for QFIs who learnt their trade then took their skills back to the OCUs who today have to train a lot of their own instructors as the supply of readymade QFIs has largely dried up.
There used to be a civilian run system that introduced prospective pilot candidates to aviation - the Flying scholarships which were done at flying clubs around the country but which I believe went many years ago. That was my own path into flying and an excellent system it was, and ‘cheap as chips’ in relative terms.
The RAF could make much more of the UASs, increase the instructor manning so they can provide a proper flying training service but limit undergraduates to the holiday periods so that they can get some continuity and make proper progress through the syllabus without distraction from their academic studies. The rest of the time the UAS would provide EFT courses to students post IOT, they should be able to fit at least one full course in per term.