The UK’s decision to establish the Defense University Alliance is more significant than any other educational initiative. This reflects the growing recognition that national security is no longer determined solely by troops, weapons or military headquarters. It is influenced by universities, researchers, innovation ecosystem and the next generation of strategic thinkers alike. It is very important to pay attention to India in this context. For more than a decade, India has been talking about creating an Indian National Defense University (INDU). The proposal, which was first approved in principle in 2012, envisioned a premier institute dedicated to higher military education, strategic studies and national security research. While some specialized courses and training programs have emerged through various institutions over the years, the university itself remains unrealized.
While India awaits the final institutional design of INDU, many fundamental questions will naturally take time to settle. These include its governance structure, leadership model, academic framework, faculty recruitment, balance between military and civilian involvement in teaching and administration, and even whether the institution ultimately retains the INDU name or adopts an Indian language identity in line with recent national naming practices. None of these discussions should delay the broader task of building India’s defense knowledge ecosystem. A Defense University Consortium may be established in the interim under the aegis of Headquarters Integrated Defense Staff through the existing INDU Directorate or any other appropriate tri-service institutional mechanism. Such an alliance will enable collaboration, research and academic networking to begin immediately as the university takes shape.
The delay is unfortunate, but it also presents an opportunity to rethink the larger objective. India should not wait for a single university campus to become operational before strengthening its defense academic ecosystem. Instead, it could start with a more practical and scalable approach by establishing a Defense University Alliance that connects existing universities, military institutions, think tanks and industry partners under a common framework. India already has many of the building blocks in place. It lacks an institutional mechanism that would enable them to work together.
Across the country, universities have steadily expanded teaching and research in national security, strategic affairs, defense studies and international relations. Jawaharlal Nehru University’s School of International Studies hosts one of India’s most respected centers for strategic and security studies. Gujarat Central University has developed programs in defense and strategic studies. Savitribai Phule Pune University has long maintained a tradition of defense and strategic research. The University of Madras continues to contribute through its Department of Defense and Strategic Studies, while the University of Allahabad has also maintained academic engagement with defense studies. The universities of Jammu and Kashmir have increasingly contributed to scholarship on topics such as border management, conflict, internal security and regional geopolitics, which are central to India’s strategic environment.
Along with these public institutions, private universities have made significant investments in international affairs and diplomacy. For example, OP Jindal Global University has emerged as an important forum for scholarship on international relations, diplomacy, global governance and foreign policy. Many other institutions are also strengthening programs in emerging technologies, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and public policy, all of which are increasingly intersecting with national security. Yet these institutions operate largely in isolation. Research remains fragmented. Faculty support is limited. Student exchanges are rare. Defense practitioners rarely engage with universities except through invited lectures. Military officers access higher education through disparate channels, while civilian researchers often struggle to access policy networks. Students interested in defense careers often lack structured pathways into research organizations, think tanks or government institutions.
This isolation weakens India’s strategic knowledge ecosystem. A Defense University Alliance could help bridge these gaps without requiring substantial new infrastructure. Instead of creating another institution from scratch, it would add to existing forces. Universities can jointly develop specialized curricula, organize collaborative research projects, facilitate faculty exchanges, and create interdisciplinary programs linking engineering, law, political science, economics, and emerging technologies with national security studies.
More importantly, such a coalition should extend beyond academia. India already has an impressive network of defense think tanks and professional military institutions. The Center for Joint Warfare Studies (CENJOWS) has done valuable work on jointness, emerging wars and strategic issues. The Center for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), Center for Air Power Studies (CAPS), National Maritime Foundation (NMF) and many other service-linked institutions have deep domain expertise and maintain close engagement with practitioners. Independent organizations such as the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) have similarly contributed to policy debates on geopolitics, technology, and security. These institutions should become active partners in any future alliance.
Beyond internships and fellowships, they can jointly supervise dissertations, organize annual strategic research competitions, establish visiting scholar programs, co-develop policy statements, and provide structured mentorship for postgraduate researchers. Such initiatives will create a sustainable pipeline connecting classrooms to policymaking and operational expertise. The benefits will extend far beyond strategic studies. Today’s national security challenges require expertise from multiple disciplines. Artificial intelligence, quantum technology, semiconductors, space systems, cybersecurity, biotechnology, critical minerals, energy security, maritime governance and supply chain resilience all demand collaboration between scientists, engineers, lawyers, economists and strategic analysts. No single university or think tank can build this capacity independently.
A coalition model encourages exactly this kind of interdisciplinary collaboration. It will also support India’s broader vision of becoming an innovation-driven defense power. In the defense sector, initiatives such as Self-reliant India, Innovation for Defense Excellence (iDEX) program and Defense Industrial Corridor have already sought to strengthen indigenous capability. Universities must become a more integral part of this innovation ecosystem by linking research to defense applications and encouraging students to work on real-world strategic challenges.
Its purpose is not to militarize universities or compromise academic freedom. Conversely, vibrant democracies benefit when independent scholarship informs national security debates. Universities provide space for rigorous analysis, critical thinking and long-term research that complements the operational experience of defense institutions. Bringing these communities together strengthens policymaking rather than narrowing it. The proposed INDU, whenever operationalised, will undoubtedly play an important role. However, it should become the anchor of a much larger national network rather than a sole center of defense education.
There is no need to wait for legislation, new premises or large financial commitments to build such a network. The Ministry of Defence, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, could start by identifying universities with established strengths in strategic and security studies, inviting leading defense think tanks as institutional partners and creating thematic working groups on areas such as cyber security, space security, defense technology, maritime affairs, border management and emerging military doctrines. Annual conferences, student fellowships, collaborative publications, and joint research grants can gradually transform these individual institutions into a coherent national ecosystem.
History shows that transformative national capabilities are rarely built by a single institution. The modern Internet itself emerged from continued collaboration between the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense and a network of leading research universities through ARPANET. What started as a defense research initiative eventually changed the global digital landscape. The lesson is not that India should replicate the American model, but rather that governments can achieve strategic breakthroughs by connecting universities, researchers, and innovators around long-term national priorities.
India already has the required material. The new leadership within the tri-service establishment has the opportunity to take the first practical steps by forming a Defense University Consortium under Headquarters Integrated Defense Staff, preferably through the existing INDU Directorate. The initial outline does not need to be complete or perfect. Participating universities may nominate senior academic representatives to identify priority areas for collaboration in research, curriculum development, student exchanges, internships, faculty engagement and policy dialogue. Think tanks, military training institutes and industry partners can be gradually integrated into the network, allowing the ecosystem to grow organically rather than waiting for an entire institutional blueprint.
As the alliance matures, its governance structure, membership criteria, thematic priorities, and institutional arrangements may all be refined. Additional universities and specialized institutions can be brought in, while the last INDU can play the role of its academic anchor once operational. Waiting for every institutional detail to be settled risks delaying an idea whose time has already come. India should not wait any longer to start building a collaborative defense knowledge ecosystem that will strengthen strategic research, nurture future leaders and contribute to national security for decades to come.
(Views expressed are personal)
This article is written by Sudhanshu Kumar, Center for Joint War Studies, Ministry of Defence, New Delhi, and Monojit Das, Member, Armed Forces Tribunal (Principal Bench) Bar Association.
