About the Department

Security, an area that was not under the purview of the average citizen of the country, has today become a concept that is increasingly taking mindshare. This is due to many reasons such as increase in the scope of what constitutes ‘security’, change in the nature of conflict – bring security issue to our neighborhood - and the role of the media. Thus, in the current national and global security scenario, increased awareness in this subject is not only important, it becomes imperative.

In this regard, the Department of Defence & Strategic Studies was established in 1977 with former Air Vice Marshal FVA Scudder as the advisor.

Objective

Purpose of the Department

Being an academic center, the department serves multiple requirements.

1. It serves to build the capacity of younger generations in critical analyses of strategic issues and thus organize a pool of experts on national security from a largely Indian perspective, but with global insight.
2. It serves as a robust platform for constant interaction between military professionals, strategic thinkers and academicians to develop a cross-domain strategic culture. The department and its faculty have actively offered consultancy services to strategic security think tanks and the government on regional, national and international security related issues.
3. The department also plays a direct vital service to the Indian armed forces as it provides academic and research inputs to the services through official collaboration.

Being a unique center for the study of national and international security issues, the department focuses on the following areas  as areas of focus:

• National Security
• South Asian Security issues - traditional & non-traditional
• Arms Control
• Issues of  nuclear proliferation
• Conflict resolution
• Confidence Building Measures
• International terrorism
• Economic Management
• Legal aspects of international security
• Maritime security
• Environmental security
• Other related areas

Vision

Scope of Academic Activities

Being a full-fledged department under the University of Madras, apart from regular duties of conducting regular full-time classes on-premises, the department initiates and actively participates in multiple academic activities at various levels – university, state, national and international levels.

In this regard, the department has been conducting interactive seminars/round tables and research monitoring on regular frequency. It invites celebrity alumni to deliver lectures on issues of contemporary relevance.

The department has linkages with various national and international think tanks.

As an extension of its services to the student community, the department provides guidance for employment in armed forces, government departments, the corporate sector and NGOs.

Institutional Affiliation

The Department of Defence & Strategic Studies is affiliated to the following institutions:

• Officers Training Academy (OTA), Chennai
• Defence Services Staff College, Wellington,
• National Defence College, New Delhi

Contact Details

Department of Defence & Strategic Studies

University of Madras, Tholkappiar Campus, Chennai - 600 005

Phone: 91-44-25399634  |  E-mail: defence@unom.ac.in  /  defencestudies.unom@gmail.com