It is time to operationalise the Indian Defence University

​It is time to operationalise the Indian Defence University

While the nature of war remains constant, its changing character imposes a premium on military education and the academic preparation required to cope with security challenges

World and defence University

It is no surprise that several nations have established ‘defence universities’ to promote academic rigour and enhance strategic thinking in their armed forces. 

In India’s own neighbourhood, it is reported that Pakistan has created two universities for its armed forces, while China has three, 

although a report of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute lists more than 60 Chinese universities with military and security links. .

Professional Military Education

इसकी ज़रूरत क्यों ?

१ While the nature of war remains constant, its changing character imposes a premium on military education and the academic preparation required to cope with current and future security challenges. 

२ military officers are expected to produce results in the face of nebulous initial information and rapidly changing circumstances. 

सैन्य अधिकारियों से अपेक्षा की जाती है कि वे अस्पष्ट प्रारंभिक जानकारी और तेजी से बदलती परिस्थितियों के बावजूद परिणाम देंगे।

३ To meet complex challenges, officers are empowered through a well-constructed Professional Military Education (PME) increase  their abilities to correspond with changing assignments and increasing responsibilities over long career spans.

अमेरिका से सीख 

1 The evolution of PME in the U.S. is of interest to us

2 While the Goldwater-Nichols Defense Reorganization Act, 1986 brought wide-ranging structural reforms .

‘3 Ike’ Skelton

 whose report to the U.S. Congress significantly reformed military education in the U.S. armed forces. 

This report advised the Department of Defense to focus 

• educational institutions on specified learning objectives, 
• 
  
• enhance the quality of both civilian and military faculty, 
• 
  
• establish a two-phased system for the education of joint officers, 
• 
  
• and form an Institute for National Strategic Studies at National Defense University.
  

Slow progress

When India feel this need ?

 1 This realisation came soon after independence when, in 1967, the Chiefs of Staff Committee mooted the setting up of a Defence Services University. 

2 In 1982, a Study Group constituted by the COSC emphasised the need to set up an apex educational body for the armed forces in the form of an IDU.

3 Two decades later, in the wake of the Kargil conflict, a committee was established under the chairmanship of Dr K. Subrahmanyam to examine this issue. 

4 Based on its recommendations, in May 2010, ‘in principle’ approval was accorded for setting up of the IDU in Gurgaon. Despite some optimistic reportage in 2017-18, the progress on setting up of the IDU has been rather slow.

We run world class training and education institutions

1 The several world-class training and education institutions run by India’s armed forces constitute a rich and vast ecosystem of professional training.

 2 However, they lack an overarching integrated PME framework and a multi-disciplinary approach to strategic thinking. 

3 Although the armed forces have affiliations with universities for degree courses, this is not the optimal solution. 

4 The IDU will  India’s PME system 

• by providing a central institution of higher military learning 
  

• well-qualified faculty with a mix of academicians 
• 
  
• along with serving and retired officers from the military and civil services.
  

The university’s curriculum 

would vary among the various colleges and other institutions that would be governed by it.

 However, it would need to offer a variety of additional subjects relevant to national security and defence – both in sciences and humanities.

An idea whose time has come

Long time demand closed ???

Some experts have suggested that after the establishment of the Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) in Gujarat, there may not be a need for IDU. 

This argument is flawed, because comparing the IDU and RRU is like comparing apples and oranges.

 Neither does the RRU Act specify education related to ‘defence’ in its objectives, nor is its curriculum focused solely on military requirements for management of war and execution of plans.

The IDU as an idea has come and delays attached in its commissioning come at the cost of defence preparedness, strategic culture, and inter-service integration. 

The need of the hour is to operationalise the IDU at the earliest, so that the first building-blocks of joint warfighting can be put in place through a well-calibrated and futuristic military education curriculum.

Source the hindu