Integrating climate adaptation strategies into water resources management is critical to safeguarding human well-being, ecological stability, and socio-economic development. As the impacts of climate change become increasingly pronounced, water systems are subject to heightened vulnerabilities such as flooding, drought, and infrastructural failure. At the same time, higher education institutions (HEIs) hold a unique potential to bridge the persistent gap between scientific knowledge and practical policy application. By leveraging their capacity for innovation, research, and capacity building, HEIs can drive forward sustainable water governance and climate resilience. This policy brief explores key challenges, outlines a multi-layered adaptation strategy, and provides recommendations for embedding climate-responsive water policies into national and international frameworks. It further presents an expanded vision for cross-sectoral cooperation, identifies implementation bottlenecks, and proposes pathways for HEI’s engagement in policymaking, digital innovation, and public transformation. With the escalating urgency of water-related climate impacts, the role of adaptive knowledge infrastructures becomes not only strategic but indispensable.