General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University ( KDU ) located at Kandawala , Ratmalana , Colombo , is a joint services academy where cadet s of the three wings Sri Lanka Army , Sri Lanka Navy and Sri Lanka Air Force are trained before they go for their pre - commission training to their academies . Established in 1980 as the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence Academy , named after General Sir John Kotelawala , 3rd Prime Minister of Ceylon ; it was renamed as a university by an amendment bill passed in Parliament on 11 October 2007 . History . The General Sir John Kotelawala Defence Academy ( the Defence University of Sri Lanka ) was inaugurated on 11 October 1980 on a estate donated by the late General Sir John Kotelawala , CH , KBE , LLD , a former Prime Minister of Ceylon . The KDA functions under the motto " For The Motherland Forever " , a dictum followed by General Sir John Kotelawala himself . The KDA was instituted with the objective of educating males and females to be commissioned officers in the armed forces of Sri Lanka . It has been legally established under the Sir John Kotelawala Defence Academy Act No . 68 of 1981 and is governed by a Board of Management consisting of the Secretary of the Defence as the chairman , Commanders of the tri - services , representatives of the University Grant Commission and the General Treasury , and the Commandant of the academy as members . From 1980 to 1986 , a temporary arrangement was made for Service Officer Cadets follow courses in engineering and physical science at the University of Colombo and University of Moratuwa , and they were awarded the degree by the same universities . Later , KDA was elevated to university status subsequent to proposal made to the then government headed by the President J . R . Jayewardene , thus enabling KDA to offer degrees in Defence Studies . Today , the KDU is a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities , United Kingdom . A amendment bill was passed in Parliament on 18 March 2007 granting the status of a state university to the KDA . On 11 October 2007 KDA was renamed as the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University . Academic wing . The degree courses at the KDU run for two to four years . The officer Cadets follow a course of study from the fields of Law , engineering , management and technical sciences , commerce or arts . At the end of the second year , the Officer Cadets other than the Engineering Cadets who stay back to complete their third year studies , are sent to their military academies ( Sri Lanka Military Academy - Diyatalawa ; Naval and Maritime Academy - Trincomalee ; Air Force Academy - SLAF China Bay ) . And as well there is a civil students who follow Law , Engineering , ICT , Social science courses . For civil student the course will be for 4 years . Academic work is conducted under the direction of the Board of Studies and Board of Management by the Director of Academic Studies . There are eight academic departments , each department consist of a Head of the Department and internal / visiting staff and the library . Degrees offered by the KDU . KDU offers Bachelor and Master level Degrees in following fields ; Commandants . The following have commanded the college :