General Sir John Kotelawela Defence University (KDU) was initially established as the “General Sir John Kotelawala Defence Academy” by the Parliamentary Act No 68 of 1981 and subsequently elevated to university status by the Amendment Act No 27 of 1988. KDU is located at the Kandawala Estate in Ratmalana, which was donated by the late General Sir John Kotelawala.

Initially the postgraduate studies at Sir John Kotelawala Defense University (KDU) were conducted through a section established as the Institute of Graduate Studies (IPGS) in 2001 and it initiated Master of Science degree programs to commence postgraduate activities. However, this section was renamed as Staff Development and Carrier Advancement Division (SDCAD) in 2003. Later in 2009 it was renamed as institute of Post Graduate Studies coordinated by a director. Since then, number of new programs were introduced and Post Graduate activities of KDU got gradually accelerated.  As a step forward, with the idea of initiating Master of Philosophy (MPhil) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees, KDU management renamed this postgraduate unit as the Faculty of Graduate Studies (FGS) to be in par with the Graduate Faculties of the government sector conventional Universities and reached the status of Graduate Faculty in 2009

The new building of Faculty of Graduate Studies (FGS) of General Sir John Kotelawala University (KDU) was opened on 4th August 2015 and it is located at Rathmalana which could be considered as a location to be competed with the other Graduate Faculties in Colombo. The infrastructure facilities of this seven storied new building are up to international standards which consist of Auditorium, FGS Conference Hall, Lecture theatres, E library, computer laboratories, examination halls, and even with space for cafeteria and accommodation for foreign scientists during their short visits.

FGS initiated an academic administrative framework in 2017 with the senate approval establishing Board of Studies (BoS) to administer academic activities of all the postgraduate programs of KDU based on the provisions of the Faculty of Graduate Studies Ordinance No.3 of 1987. Its mandate is to screen through all the postgraduate programs via BoS which consist of senior professionals and resource persons from different research fields.

Centre for Quality Assurance of KDU have taken up the responsibility of maintaining quality education in all faculties of KDU through Internal Quality Assurance Cells (IQAC) established in all the faculties. The mandate of the Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) of Faculty of Graduate studies (IQAC-FGS) is to maintain the quality of all the postgraduate programs offered through FGS.

FGS act as an umbrella unit for multidisciplinary research activities conducted by all the faculties of the university with different disciplines allowing interactive studies among different research fields. Intention of this faculty is to bring all the postgraduate research programs including the programs of its affiliated colleges under its purview in order to upgrade the standards with the required recommendations of the IQAC-FGS.