More women enrol in defence and strategic studies course in University of Madras over the past few years

A silent trend has been unfolding at the University of Madras over the past few years. More women students have been enrolling themselves for the Masters’ course on defence and strategic studies over the past four-five years, so much so that the present ratio of male and female students is almost equal. Deemed largely a male bastion, this trend has come as a welcome surprise for the faculty of this nearly half-a-century old department.

“When I studied here in the late 90s, there were barely one or two women students,” recalls Utham Kumar Jamadhagni, head, Department of Defence and Strategic Studies. “The trend has picked up over the past four or five years,” he adds.

The course offers an array of topics that shapes the students’ strategic thought on national security, Prof. Utham maintained. Some of them are theory of international relations, strategic thought, maritime security, terrorism, specialised warfare, conflict resolution, arms control and disarmament, comparative foreign policy, global security issues, and fundamentals of national security.

“I think we are seeing a cultural shift in the southern part of the country,” said Dhanya D., a Ph.D scholar doing her research on submarine manufacturing. “Enlisting in the defence forces has always been high in the North. I feel that awareness of armed forces and related fields among people here is growing.”

UPSC gateway

Mahashakthi Gomathi, a second year Masters’ student, has a plan. She did her Bachelors in Defence and Strategic Studies at the Government Arts College, Udhagamandalam, one of only three colleges in the State to offer the course at the undergraduate level, before joining the university. “I want to clear UPSC exam and join civil services. This course offers a great gateway for it,” she said.

It was the “uniqueness” of the course that drew Bharosa Raj, a graduate in English literature, all the way from Kerala. Her coursemate Adeline Nikhila, a computer science graduate, preferred the course as it followed a logic, “with no emotions and no morals; a lesson in realism.”

The course attracts men and women from the uniformed services as well. On conditions of anonymity, officers enrolled in the course say it offers scope for soldiers to think deeper, make strategic decisions, and even help draw up strategic doctrines. “There is ample scope for lateral learning in this department,” they add.

“Understanding statecraft is an important component for the growth of a soldier, within the ranks as well as outside,” Prof. Utham avers. Getting in is not easy. Candidates have to clear an entrance examination and a personal interview before joining the course.