Vadodara based Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU) is going to introduce a BA honours degree programme in Defense and National Security Studies from the next academic session, starting in July. The undergraduate programme is designed to train the youth for a career in the country's defence sector along with educating them to discern policy decision-making in the context of national security. The programme will have a total of six semesters, which will include mandatory 240 days of training with the Army in the last year. The introduction to the course says: "biological warfare by releasing lethal virus” as an emerging trend of threat to national security, as reported in The Indian Express.
The self-financed course offers 60 seats in an academic year, with a fee structure of Rs 24,000 for the first two years and Rs 28,000 for the third year. The course has been designed with recommendations of a committee of defence experts, which includes Alok Bansal, Director at Centre for Security & Strategy of India Foundation; Sanjay Kumar Jha, Professor and Dean of Centre of Security Studies in Pune and Head of Department of Political Science at MS University, Amit Dholakia. Currently, in the state of Gujarat, the Gujarat Central University in the state capital Gandhinagar offers a postgraduate MA programme in Study in National Defense. MSU Baroda will start the first undergraduate course in the field of defence study, which will involve a module on army training and the field of large-scale defence operations.
