More ladies enrol in defence and strategic research course in University of Madras over the previous few years

A silent development has been unfolding on the University of Madras over the previous few years. More ladies college students have been enrolling themselves for the Masters’ course on defence and strategic research over the previous four-five years, a lot in order that the current ratio of female and male college students is sort of equal. Deemed largely a male bastion, this development has come as a welcome shock for the college of this almost half-a-century previous division.

“When I studied right here within the late 90s, there have been barely one or two ladies college students,” remembers Utham Kumar Jamadhagni, head, Department of Defence and Strategic Studies. “The development has picked up over the previous 4 or 5 years,” he provides.

The course affords an array of subjects that shapes the scholars’ strategic thought on nationwide safety, Prof. Utham maintained. Some of them are principle of worldwide relations, strategic thought, maritime safety, terrorism, specialised warfare, battle decision, arms management and disarmament, comparative international coverage, international safety points, and fundamentals of nationwide safety.

“I believe we’re seeing a cultural shift within the southern a part of the nation,” stated Dhanya D., a Ph.D scholar doing her analysis on submarine manufacturing. “Enlisting within the defence forces has at all times been excessive within the North. I really feel that consciousness of armed forces and associated fields amongst individuals right here is rising.”

UPSC gateway

Mahashakthi Gomathi, a second yr Masters’ scholar, has a plan. She did her Bachelors in Defence and Strategic Studies on the Government Arts College, Udhagamandalam, one in every of solely three schools within the State to supply the course on the undergraduate stage, earlier than becoming a member of the college. “I need to clear UPSC examination and be part of civil providers. This course affords a fantastic gateway for it,” she stated.

It was the “uniqueness” of the course that drew Bharosa Raj, a graduate in English literature, all the best way from Kerala. Her coursemate Adeline Nikhila, a pc science graduate, most popular the course because it adopted a logic, “with no feelings and no morals; a lesson in realism.”

The course attracts women and men from the uniformed providers as properly. On situations of anonymity, officers enrolled within the course say it affords scope for troopers to assume deeper, make strategic choices, and even assist draw up strategic doctrines. “There is ample scope for lateral studying on this division,” they add.

“Understanding statecraft is a vital part for the expansion of a soldier, inside the ranks in addition to exterior,” Prof. Utham avers. Getting in will not be simple. Candidates should clear an entrance examination and a private interview earlier than becoming a member of the course.