The three affiliated colleges are:

• Command and Staff College, Quetta
• Pakistan Navy War College, Lahore
• PAF Air War College, Karachi

Two major courses are taught at the university including the War Course focusing on military strategy, and secondly the broader National Defense Course which covered strategic and socioeconomic issues. Two courses were combined into a single 48 weeks National Security and War Course (NSWC) taught on an annual basis. Up till now3061 participants have graduated from the National Defense University including 469 officers belonging to thirty-nine friendly countries and 570 participants of National Security Workshops. Today, the NDU trains both the military officers and the civilian. An officer could only be designated as a general after he graduates from the NDU.

The Faculty of Contemporary Studies (FCS) was formally inaugurated on 3 September 2008 and is offering the following courses:

• Government and Public Policy
• International Relations
• Leadership and Management Studies
• Peace and Conflict Studies
• Strategic and Nuclear Studies

NDU acts as a national think tank on national security matters. Content and results are provided to the government and armed forces. The NDU collaborates with friendly nations via creating academic links with think tanks and defense universities of friendly countries.

The university provides every facility to its students. Along with books it holds, research papers, professional journals, newspaper clippings and digital databases. The library contains 96,000 books, professional journals and other materials on various military and common subjects of interest.

National Defense University also has a National War Gaming Centre (NWGC) equipped with NATO standard computers assisted war gaming system and a spacious auditorium for conducting events.

History

The first Army War Course was started on 1st May 1963 under the patronage of Army Staff College Quetta. As the number of participants increased after 1965, therefore to fulfill the need for a separate institution, on 28th May 1970 National Defense College (NDC) was established at Lalkurti Rawalpindi, at the old National Assembly Building. The permanent building of NDC was built afterward where the College was located for the next 25 years. Major General Abdul Hamid Khan, SQA, was the first Commandant of NDC, whereas, Brigadier Muhammad Ahmed, SJ, was the Chief Instructor. In 1971, Army War Course was re-designated as ‘Armed Forces War Course’, Later In 1975, Prime Minister Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, ordered to affiliate the College with Federal University of Islamabad (Quaid-i-Azam University), here MSc (War Studies)degree was awarded to the participants of Armed Forces War Course. On 14th August 1995, the College was shifted to a newly constructed building in Islamabad. However, NDC was upgraded to University level in2007 and the War College was awarded the status of Armed Forces War College within the University. The university got chartered in March 2007. The Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee has merged the War Course and National Defence Course as a single integrated course in February 2009which was re-named as ‘National Security and War Course’. The course includes two terms: Military Strategy (MS) Term and National Security (NS) Term.

MISSION

The National Defence University aims to develop military and disciplined features among its local and foreign learners to prepare future leadership from both public and private sectors via quality educational and research programs based on security and contemporary studies.

VISION

The vision is focused to craft NDU as an exceptional academic and research center mentoring in diversified disciplines, which will provide international level curriculum and strategies on national security, promoting the free, open and critical inquiry that can serve society independently.