Educational Expansion Corps

The Educational Expansion Corps was an agency of the Golden Empire, part of the Ministry of Education. It was tasked with bringing newly admitted member worlds of the Empire up to the same standard of technological development as the Empire as a whole.

Since the Empire existed entirely in the Unknown Regions until 137 ABY (when it conquered the Chiss Ascendancy), many of the systems incorporated had not developed technology considered "normal" in the Known Galaxy, such as hyperdrives, energy weapons, planetary shields, and various agricultural, building, and mass transit techniques. Some of the most primitive worlds did not even have computer systems or wireless communications. In all these instances, agents of the EEC were charged with taking the foremost scientists and educators of the worlds and explaining the function and workings of advanced technological systems. These intellectual leaders would, in turn, share the information with others on their home systems, gradually disseminating the information to the populace in general and "bringing them up to speed".

The EEC worked very closely with the Royal Integration Corps, whose duty it was to introduce Royal culture to new member systems and inculcate a firm belief that membership in the Empire was to a system's benefit. The EEC also worked with other agents of the Ministry of Education who were revising (or building from scratch) public education facilities, allowing new generations to learn advanced science, physics, Orhyo, and galactic history without needing to wait years or decades for the "trickle-down" effect of the EEC's instruction to the highest levels.

Recruitment and training
The Educational Expansion Corps took primarily those with advanced degrees in the sciences and years of experience in education, though on occasion it would accept new graduates with outstanding potential. Recruits were given three months of training, mostly in methodology of instruction, working through protocol droids and other interpreters, and behavioral training to ensure patience and understanding with less developed societies.

Agents of the Corps (called "Educational Expansion Instructors" and abbreviated as "EEIs") usually specialized in a single discipline, such as physics, engineering, mathematics, astronomy and astrography, medical science, history, or linguistics, though related disciplines (such as physics and engineering) were sometimes taught together in the field. Applicants had to undergo a demanding battery of exams to ensure their competence in their chosen fields.

Methodology
Like the Royal Integration Corps, the EEC had a large number of protocol droids at its disposal, which allowed Educational Expansion Instructors to communicate with their protégés without having to wait for them to learn the laboriously complicated Orhyo.

EEC officers would usually begin by gathering the intellectual leaders in their specific disciplines and ascertaining their current level of understanding, then build from there. In the event that a system had not even developed computer technology, a larger force of EEIs was usually sent to help oversee what was often an unnerving and vast leap forward for the citizens of the system.

Specialists in teaching Orhyo, the official language of the Golden Empire, varied from this model in working with political and diplomatic leaders rather than language specialists alone, though they did hold courses for linguists to help spread the language. Orhyo specialists often remained on-system long after their colleagues in the EEC had departed, even over a decade, to aid continued practice and development of Orhyo grammar and vocabulary. Coupled with the Ministry of Education instructors who began teaching Orhyo to children in public education facilities, this two-pronged approach often produced a majority of citizens who were at least quasi-conversational in Orhyo within a decade.

Outstanding scholars from new member systems who learned to speak Orhyo were encouraged to visit universities and academies on other member worlds, to further deepen their understanding of new technology and to aid in cultural exchange. This process was jointly overseen by the EEC and the Royal Integration Corps.

Career evolution
Educational Expansion Instructors were generally expected to serve at least three tours before promotion to regional offices or the main office of the Corps, although this was sometimes shortened to two for Orhyo specialists in light of the greater time required for their work. EEIs with a taste for adventure were also allowed to apply to the Exploration Corps after a successful field assignment.