India Foundation sets up a School of Global Leadership. It is a foreign policy initiative

To break out of these molds, India Foundation is launching a new School of Global Leadership. This will be a one-year practice-oriented postgraduate course and will be launched on the think tank’s 15th anniversary.

With this initiative, this think tank hopes to train enthusiasts in foreign matters and launch the next generation of leaders into the global arena. As a foundation, they view this course as a ‘immersion tour into the global policy ecosystem.’ A private university in Andhra Pradesh, which is recognized under the University Grants Commission and is named B.E.S.T Innovation University or BESTIU for short, will also be participating in this course.

"SoGL (School of Global Leadership) will be a state-of-the-art institution and marks an important milestone in our commitment to foster strategic thinking, innovation in governance, and efficient leadership in overcoming the complexities of the 21st century," stated a press release from the foundation.

Instead of a series of convention seminars and coursework, SoGL emphasizes hands-on training conducted by practitioners, not professors.

The school will commence operations on 16 December 2025 in ITC Maurya, located in New Delhi, with Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan set to launch the school.

The school governance structure springs from an existing network established by the foundation. The chair of the governance is Jayant Sinha, with ex-diplomats Gautam Bambawale and Jaideep Mazumdar being co-chairs. A ‘mentor board consisting of retired generals, ambassadors, regulators, and university heads brings added value to this initiative.’

The India Foundation was founded in 2010 by Shaurya Doval. A founding member and President of this think tank is Ram Madhav, a former National General Secretary, BJP. It was formed with an objective to serve as a think tank concerning governance, security, and position in the international system.

The names on its Board of Trustees include Surya Prakash, former Chairman Prasar Bharti, Sunaina Singh, former Vice Chancellor Nalanda University, and Chandra Wadhwa, former President of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA).

Researching diplomacy from Ground Zero 

Through this project, students will be able to visit 12 countries spread over four different continents in order to learn the realities of diplomacy from Ground Zero. Such a model is common for global leadership programs.

Through this effort, the foundation has partnered with various institutions. They include the Hoover Institution at Stanford, Institution of World Politics based in Washington, Luiss Research Centre in Italy, UN University based in Brussels, Leiden University in the Netherlands, and Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government in Dubai. The India Foundation is transforming a series of conversations it organizes on foreign policy into a paid semiacademic course. Additionally, this partnership brings an international affairs course into BESTIU, which is a new addition to this institution. BESTIU was established in 2019.