Indian National Defence University

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Indian Defence University (IDU), also known as Bhāratīya Rakṣā Viśvavidyālaya, is a planned defence service university in India. It would unite training institutes run by the central government under one umbrella, acting as a teaching, research, and degree-granting institution for military and civilian personnel. It is not intended to be part of the University Grants Commission, and officials have compared it to IITs and IIMs in its structure and autonomy.

Location and status
IDU is planned at Binola, in the Gurugram district of Haryana, on about 200 acres. The idea for a national defence university dates back to 1967 and was repeatedly studied by various committees. In 2010 the Union Cabinet approved a national defence university, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone in 2013. A draft INDU Act was published online in 2016, but the bill has not yet been passed by Parliament or approved by the Cabinet. In 2017 the project was renamed Indian Defence University (IDU) from Indian National Defence University (INDU). As of late 2024, the main campus construction had not begun; the university was operating temporarily from a site in Jodhpur, and the bill remained pending approval.

Purpose and structure
IDU would be autonomous, with a mandate to coordinate and interact with armed forces and defence establishments. The President of India would be the Visitor, and the Defence Minister would be the Chancellor. The university would affiliate many defence training institutes and award degrees through those affiliated bodies, not directly as a single university. It would offer doctoral, postgraduate, and distance-learning programs for military personnel and civilians. Courses would cover strategic thinking, international security, maritime security, wargaming, joint logistics, counter-terrorism, and other national-security topics.

Governing and admissions
The teaching staff would be split roughly 50/50 between military personnel and civilians. About 66% of students would come from the Indian Armed Forces, with the remaining 34% from paramilitary forces, police, and civilians. The first phase would aim to establish teaching, research, and governance structures within 3–4 years after final approval.

Current reality
Despite decades of discussion, India does not yet have a functioning national defence university. IDU remains contingent on the final passage of the INDU Act by Parliament and Cabinet approval, and on starting construction of the main campus. As of 2022, only a few courses—offered by the School of Foreign Languages from a temporary Jodhpur campus—had been announced.